If Han Duck-soo wins the Presidency what a journey he would have had. He served as the Prime Minister for both liberal and conservative governments. He then became acting President when Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached to just get impeached himself. He was then reinstated by the Constitutional Court as acting President and now he is resigning to run for President:
Acting President Han Duck-soo resigned Thursday, indicating he would run for the June 3 presidential election.
Han announced his decision in an address to the nation, ending weeks of speculation over whether he would enter the election triggered by the impeachment of his former boss — former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“Thinking of the weight of the responsibility I carry at this grave time, after thinking long and carefully about whether such a decision is in fact right and inevitable, I decided that if this is the only way, I must take it,” he said from the government complex in Seoul.
Out of all the shady things that Lee Jae-myung is under investigation for lying to the media could be what brings him down:
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a lower court’s acquittal of Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on charges of election law violation, sending the case back to the appeals court.
In a televised decision, the top court overturned the Seoul High Court’s verdict in March, which acquitted Lee of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election campaign.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came about a month before the country will hold the June 3 presidential election. The case has drawn intense attention due to the possibility that the top court’s decision could affect his eligibility to run for office.
What is interesting about the verdict is that it was an overwhelming decision. 10 of the 12 justices agreed that the appeals court was wrong to overturn the conviction. You would think a Supreme Court ruling would reimpose the verdict that the appeals court nullified. However, according to the Korea Times his case has to be retried:
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appellate court’s decision to acquit Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of his election law violation charges, sending the case back to the high court for a retrial.
The ruling does not immediately disqualify Lee as a candidate in the upcoming June 3 presidential election, as the retrial verdict is unlikely to be reached before Election Day. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling — which found that the appellate court misinterpreted parts of the law, effectively implying Lee’s guilt on some charges — is expected to reignite political debate over his suitability as a candidate, with less than five weeks remaining before the election.
Under the relevant law, anyone fined 1 million won ($699.30) or more for violating the nation’s election law is barred from running for public office for the next five years or up to 10 years if sentenced to imprisonment.
The case centers on two controversial remarks made by Lee during his previous presidential campaign in 2021. Prosecutors charged him with violating the Public Official Election Act for allegedly making false statements regarding land development projects in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which took place while he was mayor of the city.
You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to see how this ruling impacts Korea Presidential election which Lee is the current favorite to win.
China is using all manner of Chinese nationals in South Korea to spy on ROK military facilities:
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported 11 incidents of unauthorized filming of military facilities in Korea by Chinese nationals since June of last year, according to lawmakers Wednesday.
The revelation came during a closed-door meeting between the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee and the NIS, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party and Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea.
On June 25, 2024, three Chinese nationals were caught flying a drone toward the Naval Operations Command in the southern port city of Busan, taking photos of an aircraft carrier docked at the base.
The NIS noted that these 11 cases of unauthorized filming were primarily carried out by temporary visitors, such as tourists and international students from China, including minors.
It is amazing to think it has been 16 years since South Korea conducted a nuclear power project. This really should be a growth industry for them considering their expertise, but domestic politics has held back this industry. Pushing for nuclear power projects is one good thing the impeached President Yoon did do while in office:
South Korea has won a multibillion-dollar project to build two nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic, its first overseas nuclear power plant project in 16 years, according to a news report and officials on Wednesday.
A South Korean consortium, led by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), will sign a final agreement on the project with the Czech Republic’s Elektrarna Dukovany II (EDU II) next Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing the Czech government.
The South Korean government immediately welcomed the Czech government’s announcement.
“The two countries are discussing the details of the planned contract signing ceremony,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.
The deal, estimated to be worth 26 trillion won (US$18.2 billion), marks South Korea’s first overseas nuclear power plant project win since 2009, when the KHNP won the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant contract in the United Arab Emirates.
If these POWs do in fact defect to South Korea their families back in North Korea will likely face punishment by being sent to labor camps:
The government said Seoul has not changed its position regarding accepting to the nation, North Korean soldiers held captive by the Ukrainian military in the Russia-Ukraine war should they wish to defect to South Korea.
An official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the North Korean captives are considered prisoners of war, regardless of Pyongyang’s acknowledgement of their deployment.
The official added that in accordance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions, they must not be repatriated against their will to their home country, where they could face persecution.
I guess we will see if this trip to Korea by Trump Jr. will lead to any breakthroughs in trade negotiations with the U.S.:
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a meeting with around 20 business leaders from South Korean conglomerates, industry sources said.
The two-day trip by Trump Jr., his first to South Korea since his father’s inauguration in January, comes at the invitation of Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin.
Per sources, Trump Jr. arrived at Gimpo International Airport, western Seoul, in his private jet at around 6:25 p.m. Tuesday. It had been scheduled to touch down at 4:45 p.m. but there had been a slight delay before the departure.
Wearing a black cap and a long-sleeve shirt, Trump Jr. left the airport without speaking to the dozens of waiting South Korean reporters.
South Korean business circles asked Chung to facilitate Trump Jr.’s visit as a way to establish contact with the Trump administration, according to the sources.
The current Seoul Mayor is a "conservative" as are both Vice Mayors. South Korean "conservatives" have long been globalists. Local leftists have traditionally been ethnonationalists, but in recent years I have seen many pushing for more immigration. It is now the elite consensus. https://t.co/DNYDsu5Vli
Reenacted procession of diplomatic mission sent to Japan People dressed in traditional Korean clothes reenact a procession of Joseon Tongsinsa, a diplomatic delegation sent by the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to Japan, at Gyeonghui Palace in Seoul on April 24, 2025, as part of events to mark the 60th anniversary this year of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan. The dispatch of the Korean envoys began in 1607 for political reasons to promote peace after a destructive seven-year war between the two sides, but its functions were later transformed into something more cultural. A total of 12 such teams of envoys were dispatched until 1811. (Yonhap)
Not that there was ever any doubt, but Lee Mae-myung is the official Democratic Party candidate now for the Korean Presidential election scheduled for June 3rd:
Former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, who has made economic recovery and talks with North Korea his top priority, won the party’s presidential nomination Sunday and solidified his stance as front-runner for the June 3 presidential election.
Lee, a human rights lawyer-turned-politician, won 89.77 percent of all votes cast in the party’s primary, becoming the party’s formal presidential candidate for the second time, after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his failed martial law bid.
This marks the highest figure ever recorded in a presidential primary among DP-affiliated candidates since South Korea achieved its full-fledged democracy in 1987.
That would be pretty impressive if South Korea becomes one of the first countries to secure and trade deal with the Trump administration. With that said what will be interesting is if it stays in effect when a new President takes over Korea:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described high-level trade talks with South Korea in Washington on Thursday as “very successful,” noting that Seoul came with its “A-game” and anticipating that the allies will discuss “technical terms” as early as next week.
Bessent made the remarks in an interview with CNN, after he and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer met with Seoul’s Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun for their “two-plus-two” trade consultations at the Department of the Treasury.
“We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of Korea today. We may be moving faster than I thought,” Bessent said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
“We will be talking (about) technical terms as early as next week as we reach that agreement on understanding as soon as next week. So the South Koreans came early. They came with their A game, and we will see if they follow through on that,” he added.
