Does anyone think it is a coincidence that Cho Kuk received his pardon shortly after both Yoon’s were arrested and now sitting in jail?:
Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk was released from prison early Friday under a presidential pardon, after serving eight months of his sentence for academic fraud involving his daughter.
You can read more at the link.
This is just yet another part of Cho Kuk’s revenge plan against former President Yoon, to receive a pardon while Yoon and his wife and both likely headed to jail:
President Lee Jae Myung will preside over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting early this week to determine special pardons, his office said Sunday, amid growing speculation that he may grant a presidential pardon to former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.
The Cabinet meeting will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, with the review and potential approval of matters related to special pardons, reinstatements and other considerations for clemency expected to be the focus, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a message to reporters.
It is widely expected that Lee will make a decision on whether to grant a presidential pardon to Cho, who launched the minor Rebuilding Korea Party ahead of the general elections in April last year.
Cho has reportedly been included on the potential list of beneficiaries of presidential pardons, raising the possibility of his early release from prison.
Cho is currently serving a two-year prison term following a conviction on academic fraud charges involving his children and unlawful interference with a government inspection.
You can read more at the link.
What I find interesting about this is that the former ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife could face charges for trying to influence an internal party election. This stands is in comparison to the U.S. where members of the Democrat party meddled to remove a sitting President that had won his party’s primary for a female candidate that won no primaries. Nothing ever happened to the Democrats who meddled to remove Joe Biden:
A prominent opposition lawmaker appeared for questioning by a special counsel Sunday over his alleged involvement in the party’s candidate nominations for key elections in 2022 and 2024, reportedly at the behest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife.
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) arrived at the special counsel’s office in central Seoul at around 9:30 a.m.
“I will seriously, sincerely and faithfully cooperate with the investigation,” Yoon told a swarm of reporters before entering.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team is investigating allegations that the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, exerted influence to have former lawmaker Kim Young-sun win the then ruling party’s nomination in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.
In a previously disclosed phone call, allegedly recorded in May 2022, Yoon suggested to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun that he would instruct Rep. Yoon to make sure Kim wins the party nomination.
You can read more at the link.
This is the first time I have heard of an abuse of power allegations where a national assemblyman had aids do household chores for them. For all the things for a cabinet nominee to resign over, being too lazy to dump your own trash was not on my bingo card:
Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo stepped down Wednesday amid criticism over alleged workplace abuses during her time as a lawmaker.
Kang has come under fire during her parliamentary confirmation hearing for various allegations, including having legislative aides perform her household chores, such as disposing of food waste at her home.
“I offer my sincere apologies to the people for the pain I have caused,” Kang said on her Facebook page. “I humbly accept the criticism and will live with self-reflection.”
“I am truly sorry to President Lee Jae Myung, who trusted me and gave me this opportunity,” she added.
You can read more at the link, but the real question is does South Korea really need a Gender Ministry? What do they really do?
There was no way Lee Jae-myung was going to keep such a high popularity rating. Like all other ROK presidents before him his approval rating is beginning to slide the longer he is in office:
President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating slid for the first time since his inauguration in June after rising for five consecutive weeks, a survey showed Monday.
According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, positive assessment of Lee’s performance fell 2.4 percentage points to 62.2 percent from the previous week, while negative assessment rose 2.3 percentage points to 32.3 percent.
The pollster said controversies surrounding ministerial nominees during last week’s confirmation hearings and damage from the recent torrential rains appear to have negatively affected the approval ratings.
You can read more at the link.
Investigators clearly want to get their hands on the former first lady’s butler in order to put pressure on him to turn on Kim Keon-hee in an effort to arrest her. Jailing her is payback and revenge for what Yoon’s prosecutors did against the left wing politician Cho Kuk that saw him and his wife receive jail sentences:
A local court on Wednesday issued a detention warrant for a close aide of former first lady Kim Keon Hee amid growing suspicions that he evaded the special counsel’s probe into multiple allegations surrounding Kim.
The warrant was issued against Kim Ye-seong, known as the former first lady’s “butler” or close aide, due to concerns that he might ignore summons from investigative authorities without valid reasons, according to the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki.
Kim is believed to have fled to Vietnam in April and has refused to comply with the special counsel’s summons.
Following the court’s decision, the special counsel is expected to move swiftly to invalidate Kim’s passport.
The aide is suspected of receiving 18 billion won (US$13.1 million) in dubious investments from several companies through his rental car company IMS in 2023.
You can read more at the link.
Mr. Tan is claiming that President Lee was part of a gang rape and murder of a woman as a juvenile. I find this very hard to believe considering how long he has been in the public spotlight. Evidence of something like this occuring would have definitely leaked out by now:
Police have opened an investigation into a Korean American professor for possible defamation charges after he allegedly made damaging comments about President Lee Jae Myung with false information, officials said Tuesday.
The investigation against Morse Tan, dean of Liberty University School of Law, came after a conservative civic group had filed a complaint with the police, accusing Tan of defaming Lee by spreading false information about him.
In June, Tan said during an event in Washington that Lee had been involved in the gang rape and murder of a girl during his youth, and that he was sent to a juvenile detention center and unable to finish middle and high school.
The civic group said these claims are unfounded.
Tan, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice under the first Donald Trump administration, is known for promoting conspiracy theories about election fraud in South Korea.
According to the civic group that filed the complaint, Tan also claimed that the June 3 snap election won by Lee was rigged.
You can read more at the link, but with Tan currently in Korea it will be interesting if the ROK government tries to detain him or just let him go back to the U.S. and deny future entry.
Some people have no sense of shame if they think ordering employees to do chores around their house is okay:
Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo apologized Monday for having legislative aides perform her household chores, such as disposing of food waste at her home, amid opposition criticism and calls for her resignation over alleged abuse of power.
Kang offered the apology during a parliamentary confirmation hearing on her nomination, when she was pressed by opposition lawmakers, including Rep. Lee Dal-hee of the People Power Party, who actually brought a plastic bag of food waste to the hearing to make her point.
“I sincerely apologize for the controversy I’ve caused. I offer my heartfelt apologies to the aides who may have been hurt in the process,” Kang told lawmakers at the National Assembly.
“I humbly accept my shortcomings and will take this as a lesson to be more mindful in my words and actions, and to move forward with greater care and consideration,” she said.
Kang, a two-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, was nominated for gender minister late last month.
The controversy arose after some of her staff members raised allegations that she ordered her aides to do her household chores and repair her toilet, claiming that her abusive behavior amounts to “gapjil” — a Korean term used to describe a power-abusing workplace practice by a superior.
You can read more at the link.
This is clearly a conflict of interest, but if President Lee wants his defense lawyer on the Constitutional Court he will get because the DPK controls the National Assembly which has to approve the nomination:
President Lee Jae-myung is considering nominating two sitting senior judges and a lawyer who served as his defense counsel in recent trials as candidates for two Constitutional Court justice positions, officials familiar with the matter said Sunday.
Presiding Judge Oh Young-joon of the Seoul High Court and Judge Wi Kwang-ha of the same court are under review for the nomination, according to a presidential official. (…….)
The possible nomination of Lee is sparking debate, as he previously served as the president’s defense lawyer in a series of trials concerning allegations of election violations and unauthorized remittances to North Korea.
The trials have been put on hold due to a South Korean president being immune from criminal prosecution while in office.
The opposition People Power Party (PPP) criticized the presidential office over the potential nomination of Lee, saying the move would “amount to turning the judiciary into a private law firm.”
“The biggest reason why half of the people didn’t vote for President Lee Jae-myung was the suspicion and fear that he might exert influence over the judiciary if he gained control of the executive branch in addition to the legislature,” PPP spokesperson Seo Ji-young said.
You can read more at the link.
