South Korean Politics

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South Korean Politics

Postby LMAO » Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:04 am

Was gonna post this in In the news today...., but it's too juicy to not have its own thread.

South Korea: Protestors demand President Park resignation

Seoul (CNN)Thousands of South Koreans rallied in Seoul Saturday, demanding the resignation of President Park Geun-hye.

Police estimated that around 12,000 demonstrators attended the evening protest, according to the country's semi-official Yonhap news agency.
South Korea's president faces scrutiny for allegedly leaking state documents to a friend.

On Friday, Park Geun-hye ordered the resignation of 10 of her senior secretaries as political turmoil continued to grip the country.

"The President will carry out reshuffling the Office of the President in the near future," her spokesman Jung Youn-kuk told CNN.

Senior secretaries are essentially aides who coordinate policy between the presidency and government ministries.

Those ordered to resign include the senior secretaries to the president for policy coordination, political affairs, civil affairs, foreign affairs and national security, public relations, economic affairs, future strategy, education and culture, employment and welfare and personnel affairs, according to the presidential office's website.

Scandal this week gripped President Park, after she was accused of leaking official state documents to a friend.

Presidential apology
Park on Tuesday admitted to sharing state documents with Choi Soon-sil, who offered "her personal opinion" on Park's speeches before the presidential election in 2012.

Choi does not hold any public office.

In a televised presidential apology, Park said Choi looked at "some documents" for a certain period of time after Park took office, but didn't specify what they were.

"I am shocked and my heart is breaking for causing public concern," Park said in the live telecast. "I've done so (shared the documents) out of pure heart so that I could carefully review (the documents)."

Abandoned computer
CNN South Korean affiliate JTBC broke the news of the scandal earlier this week after revealing that it had found an abandoned computer of Choi's containing evidence she received secret documents and intervened in state affairs.

Local media and opposition parties accused Choi of abusing her relationship with Park to force big local conglomerates to donate millions of dollars to two foundations they claim she had set up.

The South Korean prosecutor's office on Thursday established a "special investigation unit" to probe the cases.

Under South Korea's constitution, Park -- as sitting president -- is immune from criminal prosecution except for insurrection or treason.

Lee Kyung-jae, a lawyer for Choi, said his client returned to Seoul on Sunday to answer questions from prosecutors and "testify according to the facts."
"She is deeply remorseful that she had caused frustration and despondency among the public," Lee said.

The prosecutor's office promised a quick and thorough investigation, according CNN affiliate YTN.

Political fallout
The incident has hit Park's approval ratings. Her weekly approval rate plunged to a record low of 21.1% Thursday, according to a local pollster Real Meter.

Park, whose presidency ends in early 2018, had approval ratings between 30% to 50% during her first three years in office. This year, however, has been a bad year for the president.

A combination of a weak economy, inadequate public communications and poor administration of state affairs, according to multiple poll results, have resulted in slipping approval scores.

Park, South Korea's first female president, is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, South Korea's leader from 1961 to 1979, who was assassinated by his own intelligence chief. The late Park is hailed by some as the mastermind behind the country's current prosperity but criticized by others as a dictator who violated human rights by crushing dissenters.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/29/asia/south-korea-reshuffle/index.html


tldr: Korean Rasputin controls South Korea's President. Not stated in the article, but Choi is a shaman. A f***ing shaman lmfao

It's amazing how none of my Korean or Korean-American friends have posted anything about this on Facebook and how no major news channel here has reported anything about it.
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby Rastayouth » Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:17 am

Yep. Global news outlets have been quiet one this one.
This whole story is mental. Supposedly Shaman Choi is the daughter of Park's mentor or something along those lines. The bit that got me though is that she leaked confidential documents, got caught and her response is to sack her cabinet?
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby Rastayouth » Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:30 am

Surprise surprise. I call shenanigans:

Choi Soon-sil, who allegedly used her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to meddle in critical state affairs and benefit herself, returned to Seoul, Sunday, but managed to dodge an immediate investigation.

The prosecution decided not to detain or question her when she arrived at Incheon International Airport at 7:30 a.m. from Heathrow Airport in London, giving her at least a day that she could use to remove evidence and coordinate her story with people involved in the scandal.

Her legal representative, Lee Kyung-jae, told reporters at his office in southern Seoul that she returned home and was staying at an unidentified location in Seoul.

The lawyer said he asked the prosecution to delay her summons for a day because she needs time to rest after the long flight.

The prosecutors’ decision not to investigate her immediately upon her arrival has fueled suspicion that they may also be in the hands of her aides in Cheong Wa Dae.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, a local daily, officials from the prosecution met her at the airport. It is not clear why the prosecution sent them to meet a suspect it did not plan to apprehend.

However, the prosecution denied that it arranged her return home, saying that she abruptly came to Korea.

The prosecution said it became aware of her return only when she was aboard the plane bound for Incheon International Airport from Heathrow Airport.

The prosecution fell short of revealing exactly when it will summon her.

“She abruptly came back. We will notify her when she will be summoned,” a prosecutor told reporters.


Rest of story: http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=217097
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby LMAO » Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:37 am

tfw North Korean leadership turns out to be the more sane of the two Koreas
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby UFGN » Mon Oct 31, 2016 1:19 pm

Reported on BBC news last night

Quite a shambolic report actually. Lacking in detail and amateurishly presented by a reporter who could barely string a sentence together. Not up to normal BBC standards.
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby LMAO » Fri Mar 10, 2017 6:28 am

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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby LMAO » Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:55 am

Yoon Suk-yeol wins the SK presidential election. Pleased with the outcome since I wanted him to win.

I don't live in SK, so I couldn't care less about his domestic views. However, he was by far the most pro-US candidate (and his anti-China stance and willingness to work with Japan are major pluses too). Hopefully we can bring South Korea into the QUAD and turn it into a formal defense alliance, though India would probably leave in that case.
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby Pat Rice in Short Shorts » Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:59 pm

LMAO wrote:Yoon Suk-yeol wins the SK presidential election. Pleased with the outcome since I wanted him to win.

I don't live in SK, so I couldn't care less about his domestic views. However, he was by far the most pro-US candidate (and his anti-China stance and willingness to work with Japan are major pluses too). Hopefully we can bring South Korea into the QUAD and turn it into a formal defense alliance, though India would probably leave in that case.



Quite instructive as to global attitudes these days. It was only a decade or less ago as I recall they elected a President (was it Moon?) that campaigned on removing US forces from S Korea.
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby LMAO » Fri Mar 11, 2022 6:51 am

Pat Rice in Short Shorts wrote:
LMAO wrote:Yoon Suk-yeol wins the SK presidential election. Pleased with the outcome since I wanted him to win.

I don't live in SK, so I couldn't care less about his domestic views. However, he was by far the most pro-US candidate (and his anti-China stance and willingness to work with Japan are major pluses too). Hopefully we can bring South Korea into the QUAD and turn it into a formal defense alliance, though India would probably leave in that case.



Quite instructive as to global attitudes these days. It was only a decade or less ago as I recall they elected a President (was it Moon?) that campaigned on removing US forces from S Korea.


I honestly don't know. I know Moon still wanted US troops to stay even after Trump cancelled the joint US-SK military exercises after his summit with Kim in Singapore and wanted SK to pay more to station our troops. Moon also wanted an accelerated timeline for OPCON transfer, which I'm not against if our military brass thinks SK can run point on their defense in the Korean Peninsula, and he increased SK's defense budget more than their previous two conservative presidents. I do think his goals for peace with NK weren't thought out too well and he was too dovish for his desires (such turning down additional THAAD and putting SK in a stronger position before negotiations). Also, Moon trying to straddle the fence between us and China annoyed a lot of people, especially when South Koreans are one of the most pro-US countries in the world and overwhelmingly prefer the US to China (even before COVID). And now South Koreans even have a more favorable view of Japan than China! Anyone who knows the history of East Asia would be floored at that shift.

At least Yoon is more willing to pick a side between America and China and will likely be more hawkish towards NK. He wants entry into the QUAD, additional THAAD deployment (around Seoul I think?), and even talked about redeployment of US tactical nukes in SK, which is only fair now that NK has nukes of their own. The other major candidate, Lee Jae-myung (from the same party as Moon), wanted to continue the delicate balancing act between America and China.

In other news, it's a shame Marcos will likely win the Philippine presidential election in May since he's pro-China and anti-US, though it makes sense given our history with him and his family. However, Filipinos prefer America to China, so it'll be interesting if he's hit with a harsh reality like Duterte was.
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Re: South Korean Politics

Postby Pat Rice in Short Shorts » Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:57 pm

LMAO wrote:
Pat Rice in Short Shorts wrote:
LMAO wrote:Yoon Suk-yeol wins the SK presidential election. Pleased with the outcome since I wanted him to win.

I don't live in SK, so I couldn't care less about his domestic views. However, he was by far the most pro-US candidate (and his anti-China stance and willingness to work with Japan are major pluses too). Hopefully we can bring South Korea into the QUAD and turn it into a formal defense alliance, though India would probably leave in that case.



Quite instructive as to global attitudes these days. It was only a decade or less ago as I recall they elected a President (was it Moon?) that campaigned on removing US forces from S Korea.


I honestly don't know. I know Moon still wanted US troops to stay even after Trump cancelled the joint US-SK military exercises after his summit with Kim in Singapore and wanted SK to pay more to station our troops. Moon also wanted an accelerated timeline for OPCON transfer, which I'm not against if our military brass thinks SK can run point on their defense in the Korean Peninsula, and he increased SK's defense budget more than their previous two conservative presidents. I do think his goals for peace with NK weren't thought out too well and he was too dovish for his desires (such turning down additional THAAD and putting SK in a stronger position before negotiations). Also, Moon trying to straddle the fence between us and China annoyed a lot of people, especially when South Koreans are one of the most pro-US countries in the world and overwhelmingly prefer the US to China (even before COVID). And now South Koreans even have a more favorable view of Japan than China! Anyone who knows the history of East Asia would be floored at that shift.

At least Yoon is more willing to pick a side between America and China and will likely be more hawkish towards NK. He wants entry into the QUAD, additional THAAD deployment (around Seoul I think?), and even talked about redeployment of US tactical nukes in SK, which is only fair now that NK has nukes of their own. The other major candidate, Lee Jae-myung (from the same party as Moon), wanted to continue the delicate balancing act between America and China.

In other news, it's a shame Marcos will likely win the Philippine presidential election in May since he's pro-China and anti-US, though it makes sense given our history with him and his family. However, Filipinos prefer America to China, so it'll be interesting if he's hit with a harsh reality like Duterte was.



I wish I could recall. I will ask my sister (she is adopted Korean and is very interested in the society and politics there). I do recall the guy who was elected did change his tune after in office.

Have not followed Philipines recently. Marcos as in the Marcos family? I was in Guam at Andersen AFB when he was ousted. He had a pile of family and political allies with him and they transfered the lot including a pile of crates onto a KC `135 guarded by HIS guys which we were told was cash. The head of the tanker task force took a few of us out to do a preflight. We had to have the weights and such for weight and balance caluculatuions but nobody was going to say what it was. We called the Aircraft Commander who was going to fly it all to Hawaii and he agreed that no way he was going to guess about that sort of breach of procedures. It was a great test of the principle that the AC is in charge no matter how much higher the rank of a commander. Even the boom operator who was charged with tying it all down etc was stopped trying to go down the cargo compartment. It was nutts. Later a fully rigged out C 141 with VIP quarters showed up to fly him and his out and the tanker was right behind. Thinking back it was rather tone deaf of Reagan to allow all this BS, but I suspect our Naval and AFB in the Philipines were at the heart of it all.

Sorry...I am at the age that war stories pop to mind!
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