Tag: politics

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.

Yonhap

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.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I hope Yoon Suk-yeol has some good lawyers because the Korean left will not be satisfied until him and his wife are thrown into jail:

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea-controlled National Assembly on Thursday passed contentious bills mandating special counsel probes into charges and scandals surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

Three probe bills reintroduced by the Democratic Party were approved during a parliamentary plenary vote held in the afternoon. One pushes to launch a permanent special counsel to investigate 11 charges tied to Yoon’s failed martial bid in December; another seeks to mainly investigate Kim’s alleged inappropriate interference in the People Power Party’s candidate nomination process in previous general and by-elections as well as her luxury bag scandal; the third looks into the allegations that the Yoon administration interfered in the military’s investigation into a young Marine’s death in 2023.

All three bills were passed in a 194-3 vote with one abstention, in a package deal.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I am assuming all the computers were pulled out of the presidential office as part of the martial law investigation. Additionally all the prior personnel that worked there were reassigned to other areas of the government when President Yoon was impeached:

President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday jokingly pointed out the lack of preparation for the handover by officials of the previous administration, saying that there was nothing prepared at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

“I just came to the Yongsan office, and it’s like a graveyard. There’s nothing, not even an employee to give me something to write. No computers, or even printers,” he told reporters on his first day as the new leader of Korea.

Announcing the first batch of key nominations for key members of the administration, he stood where his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol stood on Dec. 3 to declare martial law, which ultimately was his downfall from the leadership position.

He joked about how the presidential office, which had ceased function after the parliament impeached Yoon on Dec. 14, did not have any system for him to sign off on key documents.Kang Yu-jung, the spokesperson of the presidential office, told reporters later that it had been “physically impossible” to conduct work at the presidential office on the first day. She said the office lacked basic infrastructure and tools such as an internet connection or even pencils and paper, not to mention that the previous administration did not leave transition instructions for the incoming administration.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the personnel reassigned after Yoon’s impeachment have been asked to return to work at the presidential office. Addtionally the article says that Lee Jae-myung expects to move the presidential office back to Cheongwadae in the next six months.

It looks like all the opinion polls were correct because Lee Jae-myung won the ROK election by roughly the same amount he had been leading in the polls:

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea has clinched the presidency, turning the page on six months of relentless political upheaval and a leadership vacuum left by ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s troubled legacy.

The liberal Democratic Party will take power from the conservative People Power Party after a whirlwind 22-day campaign, just three years after the 2022 presidential election. That year, Yoon defeated Lee by the narrowest margin on record—just 0.73 percentage point.

As of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, with 93.84 percent of the votes counted in Tuesday’s early presidential election, Lee had effectively secured victory with 16,012,324 votes, or 48.77 percent, while Kim trailed with 13,826,777 votes, or 42.11 percent. About 2.18 million ballots remained uncounted at that time.

“I express my respect for the people’s great decision,” Lee said as he left his residence for the party headquarters in Yeouido, after his win was deemed certain by the nation’s major broadcasters just before midnight.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but this election was over the minute that the PPP could not get third party candidate Lee Jun-seok to unify with Kim Moon-soo. If they had a combined ticket they had a chance of defeating Lee Jae-myung, but they both chose mutual defeat instead and will now will have to suffer the consequences of handing pretty much all levers of power to the DPK.

This is one of those stories where someone from America is just amazed that coordinated comment campaigns against another candidate may be a crime in Korea:

A wave of accusations of online opinion manipulation by a conservative education organization has gripped the final days of the presidential election campaign as the nation gears up to elect its new leader this week.

Last week, the online news outlet Newstapa reported that the education group Rhee Park School has been operating a team of online commenters to sway public opinion in favor of conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo and against liberal Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung.

The team allegedly instructed its members to write online comments praising Kim as well as ones critical of Lee in a coordinated manner, according to Newstapa.

In response, the DP has filed a complaint against the “far-right” group, named after former Presidents Rhee Syng-man and Park Chung-hee, who are revered in conservative circles, with police launching an investigation into the case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but political activist groups in the U.S. are solely dedicated to influencing online opinion with misleading information and bot farms. Here is what the likely next President of Korea had to say about these claims:

DP candidate Lee Jae-myung has called the allegations an act of “insurrection” that destroys the constitutional order while suggesting the PPP’s possible involvement in the alleged opinion rigging.

“It does not make sense that the PPP is not involved. I think there is a clear connection,” Lee told reporters Monday. “By praising PPP candidate Kim Moon-soo and disparaging Lee Jae-myung, (they) conducted a political attack by spreading false information, with Kim and the PPP reaping the benefits.”

Judging by his rhetoric it looks like Lee after he is likely elected President will use these claims to launch prosecutions against PPP figures.

The article is claiming declining voter turn out is bad news for the conservative Presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo. I think this is because many conservatives voter know the race was lost when Kim Moon-soo could not create a combined ticket with Lee Jun-seok and are staying home. With liberals united around Lee Jae-myung the conservatives unless something extraordinary happens, have no way to win this election with a divided vote:

Public officials on May 30 move boxes filled with ballots cast during the presidential election’s early voting period in Seoul. [YONHAP]

“Early voting turnout in the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region had dropped compared to the last presidential election — from 37.66 percent to 28.69 percent — despite both major parties encouraging early voting because voter sentiment has not solidified as much as expected,” said Cho Gwi-dong, head of political strategy at Min Political Consulting. 
  
“The real variable is how many of these disheartened voters can be mobilized for Election Day.” 
  
Much also depends on whether swing voters and anti-Lee Jae-myung conservatives gravitate toward People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo or Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok. Analysts suggest these voters remain undecided, caught between a “bandwagon effect” favoring the perceived front-runner and an “underdog effect” that draws support to a surging outsider. 
  
“This election is fundamentally unfavorable to the PPP because it was the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol that led to the snap election in the first place,” said Lee Jae-mook, a professor of political science at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.