They aren’t just coming after conservative populists in America. They’re coming after us across the world.
WATCH as Ambassador Morse Tan describes the political persecution against South Korean President Yoon:
“In South Korea, you have a coup in process…the person who wants… pic.twitter.com/cuofUABX4m
— CPAC (@CPAC) February 26, 2025
Imagine if American politicians could be jailed for lying to the public? The U.S. wouldn’t have a government:
Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a two-year prison term for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on charges of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election.
Lee of the Democratic Party (DP) is considered the presidential frontrunner in the event President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment is upheld, but confirmation of his lower court sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years, would bar him from running in the next presidential election in 2027.
The opposition leader is accused of lying during a media interview in December 2021 that he did not know the late Kim Moon-ki, a former executive of Seongnam Development Corp., which was behind a corruption-ridden development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was the city’s mayor.
During the final hearing of his appellate trial in the day, the prosecution said Lee deserves “a heavy punishment for distorting voters’ choices by telling a lie.”
You can read more at the link.
Lee Jae-myung may have lost one legal battle, but he won this one:
Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung was cleared, Monday, of charges of suborning perjury or soliciting false testimony.
The verdict marks a dramatic turnaround in his political career, as he was sentenced to a suspended jail term for a separate case just 10 days ago.
This ruling will slightly ease the legal burden on Lee, who is currently facing a total of five trials, as he remains the strongest opposition contender for the 2027 presidential election. Lee and the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are expected to use the verdict as momentum to more actively assert that the charges against him are politically motivated and part of an effort to suppress the opposition, further solidifying the anti-government stance of the DPK’s campaigns.
You can read more at the link.
Lee Jae-myung if he does become the Korean President in the futre he can exchange stories with Trump about he was also convicted of breaking election laws and had an assassination attempt against him:
A rift appears to be forming within the Democratic Party of Korea after a Seoul court sentenced party leader and previous presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung to a suspended jail term Friday for election law violations.
The Democratic Party has officially denied that Lee’s conviction — which, if confirmed by higher courts, could cost him his legislative seat — would divide the party or necessitate a leadership shake-up.
The party’s secretary-general, Rep. Kim Yun-duck, told reporters Sunday that the party “stands united behind” Lee. “We are not at all considering instating a new party leader,” he said. “There is absolute consensus about that among our party.”
The Democratic Party leader, who was narrowly defeated by President Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 election, is still the widely favored pick for the next president, according to recent polls.
If Lee ends up being unseated and loses his shot at running for president, however, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to look for another candidate to run in the next presidential election, now less than three years away.
Beneath the surface, the non-Lee faction is slowly rallying around other liberal figures who served in the last Democratic Party administration under former President Moon Jae-in.
You can read more at the link.
I am surprised that auditors did not catch this spending irregularity sooner on the government credit card:
A regional court on Thursday fined the wife of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung 1.5 million won ($1,070) for providing free meals during her husband’s run in the party primary to select the candidate for the 2022 presidential election.
Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee, was indicted after providing meals worth 104,000 won to the wives of three former and current party lawmakers and three of her aides at a restaurant in Seoul in August 2021, shortly after Lee declared his bid for the party election.
A corporate card from the Gyeonggi Province government, of which Lee was governor at the time, was allegedly used for the payment.
The Suwon District Court found Kim guilty of having her secretary, surnamed Bae, pay for the meals with her “permission” and imposed the fine.
You can read more at the link, but probably not coincidentally the Korean opposition party decided today to vote for the third time for a special investigation into President Yoon’s wife. The vote symbolic because it will fail again due to a Presidential veto.
I wonder how much of this questioning is motivated by how the opposition party has been attacking President Yoon’s wife over the handbag from hell?:
The wife of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was questioned by prosecutors Thursday over allegations of corporate credit card misuse while Lee served as Gyeonggi governor.
Kim Hye-kyung, accompanied by a lawyer, appeared at the Suwon District Prosecutors Office, south of Seoul, to face questioning, which lasted for about two hours.
The investigation centers on allegations that the couple used a corporate credit card from the Gyeonggi provincial government for personal purposes in 2018 and 2019, while Lee served as governor, by having a subordinate buy food items with the card.
In July, prosecutors notified Lee, currently chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, and Kim to appear for questioning as part of the investigation.
Lee’s side responded that he would face questioning after his party’s national convention on July 18, but he has yet to appear before prosecutors.
Thursday’s questioning was expected to last into the night, but ended in two hours after Kim exercised her right to remain silent.
You can read more at the link.
With all the corruption investigations surrounding him, Lee Jae-myung pretty much needs to remain the opposition leader in order to claim the investigations are all politically motivated:
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) was set to hold a national convention to elect its new chief Sunday, with former Chairman Lee Jae-myung widely expected to win the race for a second term.
Lee, a former DP leader, has stayed overwhelmingly ahead of other candidates — former Interior Minister Kim Doo-gwan and Kim Ji-soo — winning nearly 90 percent of the combined ballots cast by registered party members in 17 rounds of primaries that concluded the previous day.
You can read more at the link.
