Tag: politics

It is amazing the amount of corruption the ruling party is involved in and they are now demanding the prosecutor general that President Moon appointed last year resign because he has the nerve to investigate the corruption:

Other members of the DP and its ally also attacked the prosecutor general. Kim Yong-min, a lawmaker-elect of the DP, said in a radio interview on Friday that Yoon was abusing his power to stop an investigation into an allegation that a reporter and a senior prosecutor had formed an inappropriate relationship. 

Other liberal politicians elected Wednesday such as Kim Nam-kook have also demanded Yoon’s resignation. Choe Kang-wook, former Blue House secretary indicted for having allegedly provided a fake internship certificate to Cho’s son to help his law school applications, was elected as a proportional representative for the Open Minjoo Party on Wednesday. During the campaign period, Choe has argued that Yoon must be the first suspect to be probed by the new investigation agency for senior public servants. 

The DP leadership refrained from making a direct attack on the chief prosecutor. DP Chairman Lee Hae-chan urged the CP to take into account the position of the DP and its lawmakers-elect because the two parties are a coalition. 

The attacks on the top prosecutor were made as the prosecution started investigations into election law violation cases involving both ruling and opposition politicians. On Thursday, the prosecution raided the campaign office of Lee Sang-jik, the DP’s lawmaker-elect for Jeonju B District, on charges of election law violations.

The prosecution also resumed investigations into politically-sensitive cases which key members of the Moon administration are suspected to be involved in. The prosecutors are investigating illegal stock trading of biotechnology firm SillaJen and an accusation that Lime Asset Management, the country’s biggest hedge fund, covered up losses. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the prosecution is also investigating the rigging of the Ulsan mayoral race as well.

Here is at least one positive highlight from the parliamentary election beatdown South Korean conservatives took in this week’s voting:

 A high-profile North Korean defector won a constituency seat in this week’s general elections, becoming the first person hailing from the communist nation to be chosen directly by South Korean voters as their representative.

Thae Yong-ho, a former No. 2 diplomat at North Korea’s Embassy in London, was elected to the National Assembly as the main conservative opposition United Future Party’s candidate in Seoul’s southern affluent district of Gangnam.

Thae received 58.4 percent of the votes cast Wednesday in the Gangnam constituency, one of the conservative party’s main strongholds, far ahead of his opponent Kim Sung-gon, a four-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party who earned 39.6 percent.

“I plan to devote the best of my ability so that our parliament and government can face the reality, and implement sustainable and feasible policies on North Korea,” Thae said Thursday when his election victory became almost certain.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Thae is going to be a rule thorn in the side of the Korean left in the parliament as they likely attempt to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the Kumgang Resort, and other projects with North Korea to circumvent international sanctions.

It looks like South Korea’s ruling party is going to do very well in the upcoming parliamentary elections, especially when you consider all the underhanded tactics they have implemented as well to ensure they win:

The official pointed out that President Moon’s approval rating rose to its highest level in more than a year at 52.9 percent in a survey released by pollster Realmeter, April 2. The disapproval rating was 44 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from a week earlier.

The survey result came after the President announced a massive financial aid package for low-income households and small businesses as part of his government’s efforts to prop up the coronavirus-battered economy.

Realmeter noted that the self-employed and other small-business owners were behind the rise in Moon’s approval rating.

Some 49.6 percent of them, up from 44.8 percent in the previous poll, said Moon was doing a good job.

The DPK also had 43 percent support, while the UFP had 28.2 percent.

The gap between the two parties had narrowed to just a little more than 5 percent in late February, when the government fell short of taking preemptive measures against the spread of the coronavirus.

Korea Times

The Korean public clearly has short memories about how President Moon initially refused to stop travel from China which helped lead to a surge of coronavirus cases in South Korea. Blaming the Shincheonji church for the spread obviously worked to blunt the Chinese travel criticism. Since then I agree the pandemic has been managed very well.

This is just another example of how South Korea is a rule by law country instead of a rule of law country:

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae expressed intent on Thursday to order an internal probe into prosecutors that brought charges against a presidential secretary for suspected misconduct, calling it a rash move that did not follow due process.

Choo delivered her message to the press after an anti-corruption team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office earlier in the day indicted Choi Kang-wook, a presidential secretary for public office discipline, for fabricating an internship certificate for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s son. 

The prosecution team reportedly bypassed its boss, Lee Seong-yun, head of the Seoul prosecution office, as he refused to sign off on the indictment, and went ahead with filing the charges with the approval of Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is all for show because all these people have to do is transfer the real estate to their spouse or other family member. Additionally this does nothing to stop the insider real estate speculation going on by Moon administration allies that don’t work in the Blue House:

The Blue House ordered its high-ranking staff to sell any real estate they weren’t living in.

The announcement, released Monday by Blue House Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, is part of the government’s campaign to cool down real estate prices. 

“Chief of Staff Noh has stressed the need of Blue House high-ranking officials to lead by example,” said Yoon Do-han, Blue House senior secretary for public communication.  

The measure came as more former Blue House staff and top government officials have been accused of real estate profiteering, a cardinal sin for a liberal administration in Korea.  

The civic group Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice on Monday claimed that the value of properties owned by officials from the current Blue House has risen an average 300 million won ($256,000) in the last three years.  

The civic group claimed that the value of apartments and “officetels” (units in buildings used for both commercial and residential purposes) owned by 65 incumbent and former Blue House staffers as of January 2017 was valued at 820 million won on average, which rose roughly 40 percent to 1.14 billion won as of last month. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.