Tag: Moon Jae-in

This should be a surprise to no one that with the appointment of the new Choo Mi-ae as the ROK Justice Minister that stopping further investigation into the current government would be her first priority:

The Ministry of Justice abruptly reassigned prosecutors who have been investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration and effectively demoted Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s closest aides. 

The ministry announced Wednesday evening that 32 senior members of the prosecution will be moved to new posts as of Monday. According to the ministry, 10 prosecutors were promoted to serve as heads of five high prosecutors’ offices and five district prosecutors’ offices, and the remaining 22 were reassigned to other jobs.

While prosecutors who have been working on high-profile cases involving Moon’s associates were moved to less important posts outside Seoul, prosecutors who had maintained amicable ties with the current administration or the administration of Roh Moo-hyun, the political mentor of Moon, were moved into powerful posts. 

According to the ministry, Han Dong-hoon, head of the anticorruption and organized crimes department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named as deputy head of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Han was the lead prosecutor in the investigations into academic and financial transgressions allegedly committed by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family. 

Park Chan-ho, head of the public security department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named head of the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office. Park has been investigating the allegations that the Blue House abused its power to influence the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election and help a Moon associate win. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is what prosecutors had to say:

“This is an overt attempt to dismantle the investigations [against the administration],” a senior prosecutor said. 

After Moon formally appointed Choo as justice minister last week, a massive reshuffle was expected. The announcement was made abruptly Wednesday evening.  

Choo left her office at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, around 4 p.m. Wednesday and headed to the Blue House, presumably to brief Moon about her plan. 

Two hours after Choo left the Blue House, the ministry announced the reshuffle around 7:30 p.m. “I have never seen a reshuffle announced after sunset,” said a prosecution official. 

Legal sources said the reshuffle was a political amputation of Yoon’s authorities. They said prosecutors loyal to the administration were appointed to the vacancies left by Yoon’s allies.

You can read more at the link, but when you hear the Korean left talk about prosecutor reform, this is the reform they are talking about. The next step will be having the prosecutors closely aligned with the Korean left begin investigating their political rivals.

It seems that the U.S. Ambassador would not be doing his job if didn’t ask if the ROK President is surrounded by North Korean sympathizers:

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris has become the center of criticism amid the rocky negotiations on determining Seoul’s share of the costs for the maintenance of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

Multiple press reports have raised concerns about whether the ambassador is giving Seoul the level of respect it deserves as one of Washington’s indispensable Asian allies that shares the common objectives of maintaining peace and stability in the region. 

In particular, the U.S. envoy is said to have some “intentional misperceptions” about President Moon Jae-in, which may add to U.S. distrust of the South Korean leadership and government. 

This situation is an undesirable one with regard to bilateral relations, political analysts and lawmakers said Monday, as the two allies already have differing views over the definition of “fair and equitable defense costs.” There are also major differing viewpoints on a range of other security-related issues, such as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) intelligence-sharing pact with Japan. Both of these issues have fueled concern among Moon’s critics that the Korea-U.S. alliance is not what it used to be.

A case in point fueling public discontent toward Harris was his meeting with a group of Korean lawmakers, Sept 23. According to reports quoting the lawmakers, Harris inquired about reports that Moon was surrounded by people with “leftist inclinations” who tended to side with North Korea. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but like I have said in the past depending on how the North Korea issue and USFK cost sharing negotiations go, the Moon administration may turn to anti-Americanism. This may be an opening salvo in trying to shift Korean public opinion against the U.S.

I guess we will see if this leads to any resolution to the trade dispute between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday he has had a “meaningful” meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that could herald the start of dialogue for mending soured ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

Moon held an 11-minute conversation with Abe on Monday ahead of an ASEAN Plus Three summit in Bangkok, the first one-on-one talks in more than a year amid frayed ties.

“I’ve held a meaningful meeting with Abe that could be a start point for dialogue,” Moon said on his social media, wrapping up his three-day trip to Thailand for ASEAN-related summits.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae characterized it as a face-to-face conversation, neither a formal summit nor a “pull aside.” But Moon and Abe agreed to resolve pending issues via dialogue during a meeting held in a “very friendly and serious” mood, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is what President Moon had to say in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the ROK Military:

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday pledged to build an unassailable military force capable of supporting peace building on the peninsula in remarks at a ceremony to commemorate Korea’s 71st Armed Forces Day.

The ceremony took place for the first time at an Air Force base in Daegu, home to the Air Force’s main combat force of F-15K jets, and featured an unveiling of the country’s new F-35A stealth fighter jets recently acquired from the United States.

In an address, Moon commended the military for defending the freedoms of every South Korean to enjoy peace and prosperity and said it was this defensive might that would buttress the country’s efforts to build a permanent peace regime on the peninsula.

“Peace should not be something to maintain but to create,” Moon said, according to a Blue House translation. “The impenetrable security of our armed forces underpins dialogue and cooperation, enabling us to embark on a bold journey toward permanent peace.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It appears that the ROK strategy for not paying more for USFK cost sharing is to imply that they may reduce their purchase of U.S. weapons if they pay more:

President Moon Jae-in outlined to U.S. President Donald Trump Korea’s plans to purchase many American weapons over the next three years as they held a summit in New York on Monday.

A Blue House official told reporters that Moon during the talks briefed Trump on Seoul’s weapons purchases over the past decade and “also plans for our purchases for the next three years.”

Moon is expected to have explained to Trump Seoul’s purchase of American weapons systems between 2009 and 2018. This is likely to have included the acquisition of 40 F-35A Lockheed Martin stealth fighters and three American-made Aegis combat systems, worth some $6.279 billion, according to data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

During the 10-year time frame, Korea ranked as the fourth-largest U.S. weapons importer, following Saudi Arabia, Australia and the United Arab Emirates, according to Sipri data.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

President Moon is heading to the U.S. for what is believed to be a summit with President Trump that will lead to revived talks with North Korea:

President Moon Jae-in flew to New York, Sunday, to attend this year’s United Nations General Assembly amid renewed hopes for a restart of dialogue aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

Cheong Wa Dae said the President planned to use his visit to the U.N. to highlight South Korea’s efforts to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula. More importantly, Moon is widely expected to suggest to the international community that a step-by-step approach be taken toward denuclearizing the North. Moon arrived at JFK International Airport, Monday morning (KST). 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but whenever you hear the term, “step-by-step approach” this means “pretend denuclearization“.

40% is still high for "low approval." Most politicians would kill for such numbers. But I'm convinced that Moon's popularity is still so high only because there isn't a single politician whom voters can point to and say, "He/She is a much better choice." https://t.co/euTXcop2hF

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) September 20, 2019