Thursday, April 25, 2024
"We must say no," Seoul Defense Chief
According to a report in South Korea's English language Hankyoreh, US unrealistic expectations of South Korea are amazingly meeting public resistance from the hard right wing ideologue Defense Minister Sin Won-sik. Seems like the US Army Pacific Commander got the idea that the powerful South Korean armed forces might be used in an actual military confrontation with China over Taiwan as they were when dictator Park Chung-hui sent ROK combat forces to South Vietnam to support the US during the Vietnam war. Good luck with that. "From September 1964 to March 1973, South Korea sent some 350,000 troops to Vietnam." wikipedia
‘We must say no’: Seoul defense chief on Korean, USFK involvement in hypothetical Taiwan crisis
The linked article really represents a public breach in the US directed US/Japan/South Korea tri-lateral partnership against China much earlier than I expected. It's definitely worth a full read. I had thought such official South Korean defense policy expressions would await Yoon exiting the presidential office.
I saw a suggestion in one of the links I cited yesterday, that Japan might be expected by the US to be made a member of the UNC. (The UN Command is not really a UN institution but historical artifact from the Korean conflict created by the allies when Russia was boycotting the Security Council). These US notions are so out of touch with the current East Asian situation, it's frightening. I remember Yoon saying at one point he could foresee circumstances when Japanese armed forces might come to South Korea. This is absurd. I don't think Kurt Campbell has any real understanding of northeast Asian geopolitical reality, although one can find him posturing as such along with various media and think tank "experts" almost daily.
Ironically, in South Korea in recent years, it has been the conservative position, that the ROK armed forces could not afford to dissipate their resources by participating in anti-China military confrontations associated with Taiwan, because the North Korean threat was too pressing. Yoon having no real experience in such matters and not a traditional South Korean conservative politician simply abandoned mainstream South Korean policy views toward Japan and China with little thought. One has to wonder whether South Korean trade losses related to semiconductors and other high tech related to decoupling or delinking (whatever the phrase du jour) are playing a role. Shin could just be going out on a limb, with President Yoon, at his own risk, in the position to disavow those views under the right US pressure.
Perhaps Shin or Yoon got some sort of indirect message from the Chinese to state his position, while the US was busy trying to intimidate China in recent weeks culminating in Blinken's visit.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Jeffrey Sachs on Kishida Speech to Congress; Asian NATO?
๐บ๐ธJEFFREY SACHS:
— Sony Thang (@nxt888) April 18, 2024
[Commenting on the remarks made by Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, who warned the US Congress of China's 'growing threat to global peace'.]
"It is a shame—first of all—for a Japanese Prime Minister to come to the US Congress and speak that way.
Really, it's a… pic.twitter.com/1OtqgHP2ft
Yoon's party suffered a great loss in the April 10, general elections for the National Assembly. A recent Korea gallup poll showed his approval rating at 23 percent. I suppose that is better than Kishida's 16 percent. While these two do their best to alienate China, their currencies are suffering probably because their market relations with China are suffering. China is the number one trading power in Asia. I heard some cocky pro-American pundit in the Philippines trying to sell the Marcos anti-China pitch and the new US military buildup in the Philippines particularly in Luzon across from Taiwan. He cited South Korea as an example of confronting China by joining the tri-lateral partnership with Japan and the US and doing well. News bulletin to the Philippines, South Korea isn't "doing well." In fact, Yoon presiding over a crashing economy and a currency dropping like a stone, along with his popularity, requested his principal ministers and presidential officials to resign, except those in the national security sector (go figure - these are the pro-US insiders directing the US Indo-Pacific agenda). This is ironic in that the National Security Advisors office is suspected of interfering in the defense ministry's independent legal investigation of the drowning death of marine corporal Choi last year. This pretty much fits within Yoon's MO of interfering in investigations whenever he takes a mind to. Some pundits suggest this scandal, which included sending the former defense minister to Australia as ambassador to get him out of the country, quickly, could be one thread leading to Yoon's undoing. Obviously the Yoon "vegetable administration" is in panic mode.
Guess what? Yoon is having a problem getting conservatives to come forward to volunteer to take these posts. So someone allegedly (probably Yoon's wife, the problematic first lady) suggested democrats take the two most important posts, including Prime Minister and Chief of Staff. The rumor was denied by the presidential office. Next, Yoon proposed a meeting with democratic party leader Lee Jae-myung in a five minute phone call Friday. Lee, who directed his party's landslide victory in the Assembly elections, is invited by Yoon to meet with him, to recommend ministers, presidential office staff, etc., as well as policies to deal with current domestic crises. Yoon has never met with the opposition leader of the majority party in the national assembly during the two years thus far of his administration. So now that his dysfunctional administration is virtually paralyzed, Yoon wants the opposition leader he is still trying to put in prison, and has been trying to put in prison for years, to come forward with his party, to solve Yoon's political and economic crises. Yoon has run out of other people to blame for his series of political blunders, so he wants the democrats to come forward so they can take the blame for him. LOL.
The national security problem in Asia is more serious. This editorial describes the predicament of a re-arming Japan allied with the US blaming tensions there on China.
Has Korea, too, crossed the Rubicon on China?
In December 2022, the Japanese government revised three state documents regarding national defense. These revisions would allow the Japanese state to allocate 2% of its national GDP to the defense budget by the year 2027, effectively doubling the national defense budget in five years. As Takeuchi predicted, the US and Japan are cooperating on all fronts to formulate the framework for a NATO-like military alliance in East Asia. At Camp David in August of last year, the US moved to include South Korea in a trilateral alliance network. In November of last year, the leaders of the US, Japan and the Philippines held a summit in Washington, DC, where they criticized China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea.
In a speech addressing the US Congress last week, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio emphasized that Japan was the US’ “global partner.” On April 11 and 12, the US, South Korea and Japan conducted joint naval exercises in the East China Sea, which is directly above Taiwan. According to press releases published by the US Indo-Pacific Command and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the exercises involved large-scale anti-submarine drills and deployed the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and three US destroyers, Japan’s Ariake-class destroyer, and South Korea’s ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong Aegis-equipped destroyer. On April 6 and 7, the US, Japan, the Philippines and Australia conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea.
The US’ strategy is clear. The US-South Korea-Japan trilateral alliance will respond to a conflict in the Taiwan Strait while the quadrilateral alliance of the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines will respond to any threats in the South China Sea. As the key ally backing up the US in the Indo-Pacific, Japan lies at the crux of this strategy. The US-Japan alliance is no longer just a slogan. It is now a military partnership with the ability to steer global affairs. It is also a sign that the US will make increasing demands of South Korea in the days to come.
In hindsight, it’s clear that Japan had been preparing itself to cross the Rubicon. At that point, Tokyo had already made a resolution. But what about Korea? Faced with such a colossal problem, the strategy of balanced foreign affairs and not rocking the boat are more important than ever. Yet the Yoon administration has unwittingly steered us in one direction. If we attempt to turn back now, the country will look foolish. Yet if we continue in our current trajectory, we’ll be torn apart. Between a rock and a hard place. The country is in a precarious situation.
I think I can safely predict that the results of confronting China in East Asia with a US directed, NATO like structure, ad hoc, rickety and dangerous as it appears to be, is unlikely to advance the interests of the participants. One might look to the current state of US Nato expansion efforts in Ukraine as an omen of things to come. How beneficial was that for Europe?
It was Shinzo Abe's goal to make Japan great again. I've read accounts that suggested the Indo-Pacific strategy in the South China Sea was his idea. I guess Kishida will attempt to carry out the offensive armaments buildup of Japan, without bothering to amend the constitution. The Kyodo news article tries to characterize Kishida as a "dovish moderate." What nonsense.
Biden and Blinken's LDP pals making offerings again to the Japanese empire war criminals who bombed Pearl Harbor, invaded China, raped Nanking, colonized Korea, killed hundreds of American POWs in the jungles of Indochina... oh no big deal, they're on our side now. JFC. https://t.co/el7PeewvJx
— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) April 21, 2024
Added 4.24
Another analysis from South Korea that will never be heard by Biden and his desperate Washington Blob, who only want military superiority and colonial control in Asia. "Why Korea shouldn’t welcome Japan’s newly beefed up defense cooperation with US." https://t.co/5PL4O3MjYt
— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) April 23, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Compelling history-South China Sea
Cambridge PhD- "The US is lawless." Deliberately refused to resolve Chinese territorial claims against Japan after WWII. The Philippines is a US colony. France stole the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Historically the Philippines has no claim. The US, France, and UK never listened to their international law experts. The US has been trying to contain China since WWII.
I've cued the video to the six minute mark to start. The first six minutes is background on the scholar and where and how he worked to obtain the historical archives. Not only is this video compelling, but if you listen to whole interview, you will know more about the history of US policy in the South China Sea than any western journalist has reported to date. Western governments and media have been lying about this situation for a long time.
There is a similar provenance to US/UK/Japanese arguments against the "one china" policy allegedly the official US policy toward Taiwan. There is an argument that "title" to Taiwan was not given up by the allied powers after WWII because the San Francisco Treaty did not deal with the issue. It has actually been argued "legally" that title to Taiwan still rests with the United States. I wrote about this at the link below.
One China Policy legal review claims the Allies have title to Taiwan
The professor's interview is so important I'm concerned it will either be ignored or disappear from youtube.
— ่ชๅฟ ๅฟ ไฟก ่กๅฟ ๆญฃ็ด
Who has sovereignty over the disputed South China Sea islands? Where do the roots of the current controversy lie? One renowned scholar's relentless quest through the archives of three Western players has led to startling discoveries. Professor Anthony Carty was born in Ireland in 1948. He pursued his studies at Queen's University Belfast, University College London, and Cambridge University, where he obtained his Ph.D. From 2011 until the end of 2018, he delved into a century of archives kept by foreign affairs departments in France, the UK, and the U.S. concerning the South China Sea. He published his findings in two papers five years ago, based on which a Chinese book titled 'The History and Sovereignty of the South China Sea' was published. During an exclusive interview, Prof. Carty told Liu Xin that these governments understood the disputed islands belonged to China, but they had been bluffing for strategic reasons. "They need to be confronted."
I've cued the video to the six minute mark to start. The first six minutes is background on the scholar and where and how he worked to obtain the historical archives. Not only is this video compelling, but if you listen to whole interview, you will know more about the history of US policy in the South China Sea than any western journalist has reported to date. Western governments and media have been lying about this situation for a long time.
There is a similar provenance to US/UK/Japanese arguments against the "one china" policy allegedly the official US policy toward Taiwan. There is an argument that "title" to Taiwan was not given up by the allied powers after WWII because the San Francisco Treaty did not deal with the issue. It has actually been argued "legally" that title to Taiwan still rests with the United States. I wrote about this at the link below.
One China Policy legal review claims the Allies have title to Taiwan
The professor's interview is so important I'm concerned it will either be ignored or disappear from youtube.
— ่ชๅฟ ๅฟ ไฟก ่กๅฟ ๆญฃ็ด
Yoon Seok-yeol - Han Dong-hun lawfare party loses general election in S. Korea
PPP (conservative party) including proportional representatives- 109 representatives.
Lee Jae-myung, democratic party leader, and Cho Guk, Innovation Party leader, have been victims of sustained prosecutions from Yoon's office when he was Prosecutor General, which continued during his presidency (still 3 years left on his term of office) with Han Dong-hun as Justice Minister, and then the party leader for the conservative PPP. Lee Jae-myung had to direct party campaign efforts in between court appearances on trumped up criminal charges. The former Justice Minister Chu Mi-ae, won a seat as democratic representative. She was forced to resign after she failed to get Yoon dismissed for ethical misconduct during the Moon administration. Yoon was only suspended for two months. After his injunction was overruled by an appellate court, Yoon resigned to run for the presidency.
Notable conservatives who won seats included Ahn Chul-soo, (I regard him as an Elon Musk/ Andrew Yang type conservative) but he's always discussed as a potential presidential contender. The former PPP party leader Lee Jun-seok, was elected. He had been forced out of the PPP for receiving alleged sexual favors, after his support for Yoon resulted in Yoon's election as president. LJS ran independently and was elected. Na Kyang-won, a former floor leader in the assembly for the conservative party, won a seat. Na, a leading conservative female PPP leader is regarded as a potential presidential contender also. Yoon brushed her off after his election as president..
Lee Nak-yeon, the former democratic party prime minister under the Moon Jae-in administration, a subak (DINO), ran independently and lost.
Potentially wielding 180 votes or more on the floor of the next National Assembly, the democrats plus Cho Guk, can fast track legislation and overcome
So Yoon is a lame duck now for the next three years. Wih any conservative defections he
edit- MBC is now reporting 175 Democratic Party seats won, plus Cho Guk's 12 equals 187.
Note correction April 11. 200 votes needed to override presidential veto. Corrections to text noted in strikeover or italics.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Democracy Summit in Seoul- the irony
SEOUL, March 15 (Reuters) - South Korea is poised to host the third Summit for Democracy next week, taking up a U.S.-led initiative aimed at discussing ways to stop democratic backsliding and erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.
Seoul has released few details about who will be participating, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead a delegation.
The Reuters report attempts to distract and minimize the South Korean democratic backsliding, and the obvious authoritarian inclination of the current far right Yoon administration which caters to US and Japanese foreign policy goals.
Democracy in South Korea took a step backward since Yoon took office, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said in an annual report last week, citing legal cases against figures associated with the previous administration, and assaults on gender equality and freedom of expression.
Concerns about democratic backsliding in South Korea are likely overblown for the moment, and recent elections have been free, said Philip Turner, a former New Zealand ambassador to Korea.
South Korea to host third democracy summit with digital threats on agenda
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-host-third-democracy-summit-with-digital-threats-agenda-2024-03-15/?
taid=65f3e9c6a8059200016c464f&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
This Reuters article harps on the gender equality issue, a traditional problem in South Korea, which was a factor in mobilizing the misogynist young adult male population in South Korea to vote for the reactionary Yoon Seok-yeol in the last presidential election. Yoon's platform called for dismantling the Department of Children and Families. The so called Ilbe misogynist vote of young adult South Korean male voters, frustrated by lack of opportunity, a highly competitive and class conscious job market (appa ์๋น chance), and being disadvantaged by a male only compulsive military service system, blames alleged favoritism for women in the job market for their social and economic problems. It was the Ilbe misogynist vote that put Yoon in office by a very slim margin, but their party faction led by Lee Jun-seok, the former PPP party leader, was soon disempowered after Yoon won presidential office. Lee Jun-seok was accused by the party of ethics violations, receipt of sexual favors and bribery and driven out of the party leader position. Yoon as a rigid egotistical authoritarian doesn't "share" power with anyone.
Gender discrimination is not the key "democratic backsliding" in South Korea promoted by Yoon and his party's policies. Repression of media, criminal persecution of political rivals, labor leaders, and any other civic leaders, including feminist activists, who oppose the interests of ruling elites is the true nature of the new right's frightening authoritarianism. In a recent example of abuse of power, and obstruction of justice, Yoon's former defense minister, who interfered in a military legal investigation into the death of a marine by drowning, was appointed Ambassador to Australia and hurriedly shipped out of the country despite an order from the Office to Investigate Crimes by High Public Officials that he stay within South Korea to be amenable to legal process. Obstruction of justice is a hallmark of the administration led by the former prosecutor general and the PPP conservative party leader Han Dong-hun.
This Hankyoreh column below outlines the real problem of the policies of Yoon Seok-yeol, Han Dong-hun, and other principal figures in the current PPP so called "new right" configuration:
The claims they have made are farfetched and based on leaps of logic. A basic translation of them might read thusly: “The Constitutional Court dissolved the Unified Progressive Party because they were communists. Their successors in the Progressive Party are also communists. In forging an election alliance with the Progressive Party, the Democratic Party and its leader Lee Jae-myung are likewise communists. Don’t vote for communists.”
This applies even if we consider that the Constitutional Court’s decision (blog note: in 2014) might have been justified. If a party is dissolved by a Constitutional Court decision, it becomes impossible to form a new party with an identical or similar platform (or basic policies) to the one that was dissolved. This provision in the Political Parties Act bars the formation of “substitute parties.”
If the Progressive Party is indeed the “latest incarnation” of the UPP, that means Han Dong-hoon would need to explain why he didn’t take any action on it when he was the justice minister. If he was remiss in his responsibilities as minister, that would seem to constitute dereliction of duty.
After Korea’s liberation, members of the pro-Japanese collaborators branded many democracy advocates as “commies” and had them executed. This was an ideological maneuver, a ploy to achieve dictatorial rule while covering up their own misdeeds during the occupation.
The column goes on to say that today's new right are the descendants of the pro-Japanese collaborator class. This is a key to understanding contemporary South Korea's domestic political scene. This is why statues of independence fighters must be removed from the military academy grounds, and the "bamboo spear song," must be ridiculed.
The tiresome commie witch hunt of Korea’s fake conservatives
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/english_editorials/1131959.html
In fact, the "new right" led by Yoon and Han, the PPP chair, intend to eliminate the leaders who emerged from opposition to the dictatorships, and their legacy.
Since becoming president, Yoon has branded a series of groups as cartels, one after another: the new and renewable energy industry, the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union; the Korean Construction Workers’ Union; the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; sections of the establishment that oppose reform initiatives in the areas of labor, pension and education; and educational bureaucrats who are supposedly in collusion with the private education market.
In a luncheon with newly appointed vice ministers on July 3, 2023, Yoon described his administration as being “anti-cartel” and instructed the new officials to “undertake a merciless fight against vested-interest cartels.”
Yoon’s next target was “anti-state groups that blindly follow communism and totalitarianism.” That came up in a celebratory speech on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Sections of the establishment that oppose reform initiatives is code for those opposed to Yoon stripping public interest protections from the law. This is an order of magnitude expansion of Milton Friedman libertarian economics, where labor unions are special interest cartels without reference to South Korea's corporate monopoly chaebol class.
Here is how Han Dong--hun described the democratic party which forms the majority in the National Assembly:
“Since the majority party is set on preventing serious crimes from being prosecuted under the law, we must stop that party from further mischief that would wreck this country’s present and future. We must also eliminate the politics of privilege for members of the protest generation who have held sway over that party for three decades now and who attempt to bully and indoctrinate generation after generation of Koreans. We have to stop the Democratic Party under the leadership of Lee Jae-myung from ruining this country as it seeks to enrich itself in collaboration with its hardline supporters and the privileged members of the protest generation,” Han said.
The real reason for Yoon and Han’s politics of antagonism and hate
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1124242.html
Members of the assembly elected by a majority of South Koreans are described as "privileged members of the protest generation" rather than the elected majority representing the South Korean people. Above they are characterized as "communists," here as privileged criminals. In fact, Yoon and Han with their politically motivated firings, and prosecutions of political rivals, labor and media personalities, are doing the bidding of traditional corporate chaebol elites whose interests and families thrived during the dictatorships and the earlier Japanese colonial period and who resent having to share power with the democratic opposition that wrested political and economic concessions from their privileged grasp.
Reuters, reflecting the establishment view of western power elites, says nothing to see here, it's exaggerated, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, the South Korean courts, unlike the partisan Public Prosecutors Offices in South Korea, know the implications of the upcoming elections, and have become politically more circumspect of late in ordering the detention and imprisonment of opposition leadership. If the Yoon/Han PPP were to win a majority in the National Assembly, their judicious demeanor will disappear overnight, lest they themselves become targets of the political prosecution machine.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Cynical New Year's Performance
A deception operation worthy of Orwell. Yoon's song is really- Give me your love warmly or go to prison. This mean spirited egotistical corrupt fool gives a propaganda performance one might expect from North Korea or other dictatorial state. A recent opposition demonstration in the street labeled him "war freak."
From JTBC-
President Yoon Seok-yeol delivered Lunar New Year greetings with a song. In the released video, President Yoon sang singer Byun Jin-seop's song 'We Need Our Love' with the Presidential Office Choir 'Warm Hands'. President Yoon's wife, First Lady Kim Kun-hee, did not participate in this Lunar New Year greeting.
Mr. Nice Guy. What a joke.
Here's the South Korean SNL parody:
South Korea SNL mocking Yoon ๐คญ pic.twitter.com/3xx1H70GAH
— ์์ ์ฅ (@captain_seo_) March 3, 2024
"Bye, bye, Ms. American Pie..."
Thursday, January 11, 2024
"Beyond Utopia"
This week @IndependentLens features the documentary film Beyond Utopia produced by a former CIA agent and a right wing neocon about an evangelical pastor saving North Koreans. Deep thanks to progressive documentary filmmakers for this brilliant critique https://t.co/pOIc6HCYVg
— Christine Ahn (@christineahn) January 7, 2024
This is an excerpt from the open letter from Deeann Borshay Liem to the producer of the next US propaganda film about North Korea-
An Open Letter to Independent Lens about “Beyond Utopia”
We are concerned that Beyond Utopia presents an unbalanced and inaccurate narrative about Korean history and North Korean society. While the film’s veritรฉ sequences of the Roh and Lee families’ plight are compelling, noticeably lacking is any mention of the ongoing impact of the Korean War and U.S. policies that have destabilized the livelihood and well-being of North Korea’s people — factors that cause families like the Rohs and Lees to leave the country.
While an armistice stopped the fighting in 1953, a peace treaty was never signed. North and South Korea, as well as North Korea and the United States, are still at war. Ongoing hostilities have resulted in the hyper-militarization of North and South Korea and the remilitarization of Japan, threatening to engulf the region in renewed fighting. These factors contribute to North Korea’s siege mentality, nuclear weapons development, and the economic hardships faced by the civilian population.
(Source- ๊น์ด์ค์ ๊ฒธ์์ํ๋ค๋ค ๋ด์ค๊ณต์ฅ 2024๋ 1์ 11์ผ youtube) Police washing away evidence (blood) at the scene of the attempted assassination of Lee Jae-myung soon after it happened
Very few people are doing any in depth coverage outside South Korea on the January 2 attempted assassination by Kim Jin-seong of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party. The coverage is superficial and the investigation by the Busan Police is disgraceful. The political assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X came to mind, as well as the assassinations of JFK and RFK. One South Korean youtube analsyt compared Lee's attempted assassination to that of one of Korea's most revered independence leaders, Kim Ku. Kim was assassinated June 26, 1949, by a young ROK army lieutenant during the administration of US installed strongman Syngman Rhee. Kim Ku's assassin was sentenced to life in prison, but was released after one year, restored to active service during the Korean War, rising to the rank of colonel. There were connections to US counterintelligence and Rhee's white terror organization. The assassin himself stated in his confession that he had been ordered to do so by Rhee's national security office.
Multiple South Korean opposition leaders and political analysts (on independent media) have pointed out the superficial nature of the current police investigation, which appears to be a coverup. Police washed away the blood from Lee's life threatening wound at the scene within minutes in attempt to support the media contention that the wound didn't bleed much and wasn't serious. The weapon used by Kim Jin-seong, in the attempted assassination, was a hunting knife which appears to have been filed down to a two edged dagger. Fortunately an alert democratic assembly member Jeong Cheong-rae took photos of the pool of blood with his hand phone before police washed it away. Lee was released from the Seoul National Hospital eight days after the January 2 attack. He hasn't fully recovered yet. There has been ridiculous media hype and excessive politically motivated recrimination concerning Lee's transfer from Pusan National University Hospital to Seoul National Universal Hospital for vascular surgery on the day of the attack. It's alleged that Lee received privileged treatment, that he shouldn't have been moved by the 119 helicopter, that his wound wasn't serious, that democratic party members defamed the reputation of the Busan hospital, and interfered with its operations. Typical of right wing motivated moves, a lawsuit has been filed. National Assembly representive Jeong Cheong-rae has publicly criticized the suit against him as one of the respondents and refuted the contentions as completely unfounded in fact.
There are so many loose ends and investigative irregularities that the opposition party has been openly criticizing it as a premature attempt unsupported by proper investigation to convince the public the attempted murder on Lee, characterized in the media as an "attack," was an individual crime rather than a conspiracy. The police effort appears to be directed from above which is not unexpected given the Yoon Seok-yeol's track record in this respect. The youtube analyst "Professor Kim," is predicting that the suspect will be assassinated in jail because he failed in the attack, and knows too much.
A Sincheonji supporter caught on video with the attacker on Jan. 1, made a throat cutting gesture with his hand while talking to the suspect.* When interviewed by police he obviously lied about their conversation and relationship. I'm basing this opinion on statements from two other witnesses which are inconsistent with Sincheonji witness's statement to police. Police also released a suspect in his 70s who agreed with the attacker to forward an 8 page document the attacker Kim Jin-seong, is said to have prepared to disseminate after Lee's murder was consummated. If this isn't aiding the assailant in his plot to murder Lee, nothing is. The police won't release the document. Even the reason the confidential evidence is not releassed is confidential (“๋น๊ณต๊ฐ ์ด์ ๋ ๋น๊ณต๊ฐ”).
* ์ถ์ฒ: [๋จ๋ ] ๏งก ์์ด ๋ฏธ์๋ฒ, ๋ฒํ ์ ๋ ์ ์ฒ์ง ์ ๋ ๋ง๋ฌ๋ค-์์ธ์ ์๋ฆฌ - https://www.amn.kr/46566
์์ธ์์๋ฆฌ=์ค์ฌ์ ๊ธฐ์, ์ ๋ณ๊ณค ๊ธฐ์ 1.10.24
* Source OhMyNews youtube 1.09.24 ์ด์ฌ๋ช ๋ํ ์ ์นํ ๋ฌ ์ง์ ์ค๋ ์ฆ์ธ "๋ฌด์์ ๋ค. ๊ณต๋ฒ ์์ ๊ฑฐ๋ผ ์๊ฐ" ์ด์ธ๋ฏธ์๋ฒ๊ณผ ๋์น 1์๊ฐ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWE9UwFLw2U
Because the political opposition's back has not been broken as intended, there is a lot of concern that the Yoon administration will endeavor to raise military tensions with North Korea further to incite a crisis before the April 10 general election for the National Assembly. It's likely social media in South Korea are being manipulated by intelligence elements and radical conservative groups such as the Taeguki, to brand the opposition as internal enemies, communists and so on. Anyone who opposes Yoon is being branded as pro-communist in this effort. ( Yoon and his ministers have actually promoted this view by making statements to the same effect publicly in the recent past). The pro-US and pro-Japanese elements in South Korea are getting desperate as the election approaches. There is transparent manipulation of media polls to suggest Yoon's popularity is rising which is unlikely under the current circumstances. It is also suggested that public fear of the Yoon administration is affecting poll results.
Yoon's government may fall if a 200 seat opposition coalition forms after the April election (enough to overcome his vetoes). Even if the number of party assembly seats doesn't change much, the emerging authoritarian dictatorship will have to take further brazen moves in the open to secure its power. The US military structure in South Korea and northeast Asia may weaken somewhat, particularly the so called Trilateral Partnership if the conservative party PPP collapses in April. Lee is the architect of the potential return of a sovereign government by the people in South Korea, often associated with the independence movement in the public mind. Camp David is the Biden/neocon/mic "great accomplishment" which cannot be pushed back, so more bad developments may be anticipated.
note- I made minor changes to this original draft Jan 12, 12 noon EST, to identify Lee's attacker by name, and to clarify the Yoon administration's position.
Monday, January 8, 2024
Concerning the attempted assassination of Lee Jae-myung
Half way decent article from a few days ago (Hankyoreh)-
Opposition leader’s attacker switched parties 10 months ago after years of conservative affiliation
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1123030.html
The rest of the article is worth reading.
Because the campaign season is upon them, the two major political parties are under pressure internally to put up or shut up on their internal divisions. In the democratic party, the majority party in the legislature, that Lee represents as the party leader, the soobak faction or DINOs are the major problem threatening democrataic election prospects internally. Of about 30 of these National Assembly members, 5 or 6 members have publicly been threatening to split from the party because they hate Lee Jae-myung as a progressive. They've tried to get rid of him recently by voting with conservative PPP members (and Yoon's prosecutors) to remove Lee's legislative immunity. It didn't work. The judge at a subsequent pre-trial conflinement hearing ruled against Yoon's prosecutors. The soobak faction of the democratic party wanted wanted Lee Jae-myung (LJM) to step down from the democratic party leader position, and to appoint an emergency committee led by someone else to lead the democratic party in the nomination process. This way so they wouldn't have to leave the party to run for their seats again. Lee Nak-yeon (LNY) is their nominal leader.
LNY is the former prime minister under Moon Jae-in. Lee Jae-myung met with him last week to smooth over differences. LNY wouldn't play ball meaning "you need to step down as party leader." Other soobak were threatening to leave the party the morning of assassination if Lee Jae-myung didn't meet their demands i.e. step down. One LJM supporter characterized their position as an "ultimatum."
In the PPP conservative party, nominally the governing but minority party, a young leader, Lee Jun-seok aka Junstone, the former party leader who was instrumental in getting misogynist young males to vote for Yoon in the presidential election, ostensibly has split from the PPP and has his own party roster, trying to qualify for independent runs at National Assembly seats April 10. That's not a factor relating to the assassination attempt. The Yoon faction, and the party emergency committee chair Han Dong-hun run the party now. Yoon and Han have an intense hatred of Lee Jae-myung, and they are petty, spiteful, and vindictive as well. They have tried to put Lee in prison and have had him wrapped up in criminal litigation for years in an attempt to remove him from the scene. Lee had just led his party to pass a special investigation into the First Lady's corruption. Yoon of course, vetoed that. Their hostility toward Lee is palpable.
(Source- ์ธ๋ก ์์์ผ ๋ฐ๊พผ๋ค youtube 01.02.04) Han Dong-hun celebrating something with colleagues a few hours later.
This is all speculation but would be familiar to students of American assassinations. Primary is the legend of the lone nut assassin. You have to get that out there first. So the patsy has to get sheepdipped as they say, and associated with political and psychological symbolism to sell the lone nut theory. So the suspect still unnamed in the press in accordance with the custom although he was filmed committing the crime also has to be protrayed as a nut. So he was wearing a paper crown on his head, like a kindergarten student.
The crown has several symbolic connotations which go to either sheepdipping, misleading the public or they could be a genuine clue. The crown is also a parody and mockery of Lee, in a sardonic fashion. It said on the front, "I am Lee Jae-myung."
President Yoon, on two occasions in presidential campaign appearances had the Chinese character for king written on his palm in dark black ink and was ridiculed for it. So there is a suggestion of sarcasm in the appearance of the assassin to youtubers who are familiar with the so called "apple apology" once generated by Yoon and his wife in photographs on social media. On the other hand, Lee Nak-yeon had criticized LJM for turning the democratic party into a private "fan club" and "bullet proof vest" among other things. Oddly enough, there is a bizarre cult similar to the Unification Church or Moonies in South Korea, in which the cult leader leader is regarded as "king" or something like that. In addition, on the crown is a green or blue silhouette of a butterfly which is contended to be a symbol of the Sincheonji (new heaven and earth) Church. (The leader lives in what resembles a palace.) Now the tie is that Lee Nak-yeon is alleged to have a significant political connection to the church. Sincheonji rank and file work as campaign workers for conservative candidates typically (like the Unification Church has been doing in Japan until the Abe assassination). The association with the Abe assassination is almost automatic when you watch the video of the attempt on Lee's life, but there are key differences.
Some of the press have already planted the idea that the suspect is mentally ill, and therefore, should be dealt with humanely when sentenced, "if he apologizes." In this regard critics of the police or other sources of this idea point out, the calculated movements of the attacker before the attack clearly indicate a carefully planned premeditated attack. the nature of the wound inflicted, said to be one mm from the internal carotid ( as I interpret one public medical statement and other statements on this topic). One observer suggested that inflicting this sort of wound quickly required some training. The jugular vein was lacerated to an extent of 60 percent.
A third factor is the behavior of the Busan police. They provided inadequate protection, which by law, they claimed they weren't obliged to provide. There were some officers in Lee's vicinity at the time of the attack. I've read that there were 41 police total in the area at the time. The fired Chief of the Ulsan (?) Police was with Lee's group at the time of the attack. This senior officer is a Lee supporter. He formerly was the national association of police rep, who opposed Yoon's reorganization of the police affecting its political and institutional independence. Yoon's bureaucratic move, put the National Police Agency under his minister of public order and the interior, as it was in the dictatorships. According to an interview of the former president of the police association on OhMyTT News, he took charge of the immediate scene, he made immediate efforts to provide first aid, restore security, and order an ambulance. The assailant was immediately apprehended. The press briefings from Busan police released a minimum of information which is understandable, but said from the start that the assailant was a democratic party member, and that a conspiracy was unlikely.
A day passed and someone leaked video showing the attacker arriving at a motel 11.5 km from the scene of the attack the day before. It was a distinctive vehicle, a silver late model, high end Mercedes sedan. Oddly enough the same or identical car model was photographed at the scene of the attack. After the release, the police admitted that someone drove the suspect to the scene of the crime. Their assessment, apparently already arrived at was "nothing to see here" and conspiracy highly unlikely. This is within 2 days of the attack. How is this possible without a complete and impartial investigation, including evaluation of forensic evidence of all circumstances, relationships, business and employment history, communications, movements etc?
The suspect's small real estate office in Asan was searched, and it was revealed he hadn't paid his rent, or was in arrears for the past 6 months. There were also notices photographed by the press on the door from banks allegedly showing multiple loans in default. Unofficial sources also reported they saw a wanted ad or sign from his office wanting to purchase for a building with 100 one room rentals. Adding to the picture, on Dec. 13, the suspect was seen wearing the same silly crown at a democratic party meeting to discuss the adverse impact of "jeonse" defaults by real estate investors to their lessees and investors. All of this is from independent media sources.
Allegedly, the suspect just happened to meet the Mercedes driver, whom he allegedly didn't know, who was also a democratic party member, who agreed to drive him to the scene where Lee was viewing the site for a planned airport from the motel 11.5 km away. The suspect was also been photographed at a memorial ceremony for former president No Moo-yeon at a cemetery on Jan 1. He also allegedly visited Ulsan a city in the same region, for unknown reasons.
At an unrelated event, the same day, just a few hours after the assassination attemp, Han Dong-hun, the de facto party leader of the governing PPP party, was observed with a phalanx of police bodyguards around him. It was reported that 240 police are assigned just to protect him.
Lee would, if elected president in the future, make efforts to return South Korea to the Moon Jae-in course on foreign policy. He had a conference with the Chinese ambassador to South Korea at one point, in his capacity as opposition party leader that drew some criticism. Lee would maintain good relations with China, and keep a safe distance, and make no concessions to Japan on outstanding issues without some reciprocity from Japan. There is no way he would have gone along with the Camp David nonsense, or joined a tri-lateral Indo Pacific alliance directed at China. Given the association of religious extremists with the WACL, an ostensibly international organization like Sincheonji, the latter probably does have intelligence and political connections, as does the Unification Church, so that potentially could lead simply to South Korea's NIS or to western agencies.
It's early to speculate but I'm not accepting the lone nut theory at this point. Also, because the South Korean administration itself and its police and prosecutors are nooriously political and far from impartial, an independent investigation with a special prosecution team is necessary.
There are tit for tat artillery exercises going on in the west sea in an area near some of the South Korean islands off the North Korean coast. Hope no one gets hurt. That's been in the US newsfeeds so I don't really have much to add. If I were the North I would have avoided this kind of military activity so close to the campaign season. It's counter intuitive. Raising the military tension during campaign season in the South especially hurts North Korean security interests, and is more hazardous to peace, but DPRK's internal agenda may be generating this.
note-made some edits to the original post 1.8.24 for grammar, style, and clarity.
Opposition leader’s attacker switched parties 10 months ago after years of conservative affiliation
The real estate agent surnamed Kim who attacked Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday in Busan has been found to have been a member of the People Power Party (PPP) for several years before joining the Democratic Party 10 months ago.
Kim’s acquaintances have testified that he frequently joined the far-right “Taegeukgi rallies” and enjoyed watching political content on YouTube.
...
According to officials from both the PPP and the Democratic Party, Kim was a member of the United Future Party, the predecessor of the PPP, and joined the Democratic Party in March 2023 and remained a member until recently.*
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1123030.html
The rest of the article is worth reading.
Because the campaign season is upon them, the two major political parties are under pressure internally to put up or shut up on their internal divisions. In the democratic party, the majority party in the legislature, that Lee represents as the party leader, the soobak faction or DINOs are the major problem threatening democrataic election prospects internally. Of about 30 of these National Assembly members, 5 or 6 members have publicly been threatening to split from the party because they hate Lee Jae-myung as a progressive. They've tried to get rid of him recently by voting with conservative PPP members (and Yoon's prosecutors) to remove Lee's legislative immunity. It didn't work. The judge at a subsequent pre-trial conflinement hearing ruled against Yoon's prosecutors. The soobak faction of the democratic party wanted wanted Lee Jae-myung (LJM) to step down from the democratic party leader position, and to appoint an emergency committee led by someone else to lead the democratic party in the nomination process. This way so they wouldn't have to leave the party to run for their seats again. Lee Nak-yeon (LNY) is their nominal leader.
LNY is the former prime minister under Moon Jae-in. Lee Jae-myung met with him last week to smooth over differences. LNY wouldn't play ball meaning "you need to step down as party leader." Other soobak were threatening to leave the party the morning of assassination if Lee Jae-myung didn't meet their demands i.e. step down. One LJM supporter characterized their position as an "ultimatum."
In the PPP conservative party, nominally the governing but minority party, a young leader, Lee Jun-seok aka Junstone, the former party leader who was instrumental in getting misogynist young males to vote for Yoon in the presidential election, ostensibly has split from the PPP and has his own party roster, trying to qualify for independent runs at National Assembly seats April 10. That's not a factor relating to the assassination attempt. The Yoon faction, and the party emergency committee chair Han Dong-hun run the party now. Yoon and Han have an intense hatred of Lee Jae-myung, and they are petty, spiteful, and vindictive as well. They have tried to put Lee in prison and have had him wrapped up in criminal litigation for years in an attempt to remove him from the scene. Lee had just led his party to pass a special investigation into the First Lady's corruption. Yoon of course, vetoed that. Their hostility toward Lee is palpable.
(Source- ์ธ๋ก ์์์ผ ๋ฐ๊พผ๋ค youtube 01.02.04) Han Dong-hun celebrating something with colleagues a few hours later.
This is all speculation but would be familiar to students of American assassinations. Primary is the legend of the lone nut assassin. You have to get that out there first. So the patsy has to get sheepdipped as they say, and associated with political and psychological symbolism to sell the lone nut theory. So the suspect still unnamed in the press in accordance with the custom although he was filmed committing the crime also has to be protrayed as a nut. So he was wearing a paper crown on his head, like a kindergarten student.
The crown has several symbolic connotations which go to either sheepdipping, misleading the public or they could be a genuine clue. The crown is also a parody and mockery of Lee, in a sardonic fashion. It said on the front, "I am Lee Jae-myung."
President Yoon, on two occasions in presidential campaign appearances had the Chinese character for king written on his palm in dark black ink and was ridiculed for it. So there is a suggestion of sarcasm in the appearance of the assassin to youtubers who are familiar with the so called "apple apology" once generated by Yoon and his wife in photographs on social media. On the other hand, Lee Nak-yeon had criticized LJM for turning the democratic party into a private "fan club" and "bullet proof vest" among other things. Oddly enough, there is a bizarre cult similar to the Unification Church or Moonies in South Korea, in which the cult leader leader is regarded as "king" or something like that. In addition, on the crown is a green or blue silhouette of a butterfly which is contended to be a symbol of the Sincheonji (new heaven and earth) Church. (The leader lives in what resembles a palace.) Now the tie is that Lee Nak-yeon is alleged to have a significant political connection to the church. Sincheonji rank and file work as campaign workers for conservative candidates typically (like the Unification Church has been doing in Japan until the Abe assassination). The association with the Abe assassination is almost automatic when you watch the video of the attempt on Lee's life, but there are key differences.
Some of the press have already planted the idea that the suspect is mentally ill, and therefore, should be dealt with humanely when sentenced, "if he apologizes." In this regard critics of the police or other sources of this idea point out, the calculated movements of the attacker before the attack clearly indicate a carefully planned premeditated attack. the nature of the wound inflicted, said to be one mm from the internal carotid ( as I interpret one public medical statement and other statements on this topic). One observer suggested that inflicting this sort of wound quickly required some training. The jugular vein was lacerated to an extent of 60 percent.
A third factor is the behavior of the Busan police. They provided inadequate protection, which by law, they claimed they weren't obliged to provide. There were some officers in Lee's vicinity at the time of the attack. I've read that there were 41 police total in the area at the time. The fired Chief of the Ulsan (?) Police was with Lee's group at the time of the attack. This senior officer is a Lee supporter. He formerly was the national association of police rep, who opposed Yoon's reorganization of the police affecting its political and institutional independence. Yoon's bureaucratic move, put the National Police Agency under his minister of public order and the interior, as it was in the dictatorships. According to an interview of the former president of the police association on OhMyTT News, he took charge of the immediate scene, he made immediate efforts to provide first aid, restore security, and order an ambulance. The assailant was immediately apprehended. The press briefings from Busan police released a minimum of information which is understandable, but said from the start that the assailant was a democratic party member, and that a conspiracy was unlikely.
A day passed and someone leaked video showing the attacker arriving at a motel 11.5 km from the scene of the attack the day before. It was a distinctive vehicle, a silver late model, high end Mercedes sedan. Oddly enough the same or identical car model was photographed at the scene of the attack. After the release, the police admitted that someone drove the suspect to the scene of the crime. Their assessment, apparently already arrived at was "nothing to see here" and conspiracy highly unlikely. This is within 2 days of the attack. How is this possible without a complete and impartial investigation, including evaluation of forensic evidence of all circumstances, relationships, business and employment history, communications, movements etc?
The suspect's small real estate office in Asan was searched, and it was revealed he hadn't paid his rent, or was in arrears for the past 6 months. There were also notices photographed by the press on the door from banks allegedly showing multiple loans in default. Unofficial sources also reported they saw a wanted ad or sign from his office wanting to purchase for a building with 100 one room rentals. Adding to the picture, on Dec. 13, the suspect was seen wearing the same silly crown at a democratic party meeting to discuss the adverse impact of "jeonse" defaults by real estate investors to their lessees and investors. All of this is from independent media sources.
Allegedly, the suspect just happened to meet the Mercedes driver, whom he allegedly didn't know, who was also a democratic party member, who agreed to drive him to the scene where Lee was viewing the site for a planned airport from the motel 11.5 km away. The suspect was also been photographed at a memorial ceremony for former president No Moo-yeon at a cemetery on Jan 1. He also allegedly visited Ulsan a city in the same region, for unknown reasons.
At an unrelated event, the same day, just a few hours after the assassination attemp, Han Dong-hun, the de facto party leader of the governing PPP party, was observed with a phalanx of police bodyguards around him. It was reported that 240 police are assigned just to protect him.
Lee would, if elected president in the future, make efforts to return South Korea to the Moon Jae-in course on foreign policy. He had a conference with the Chinese ambassador to South Korea at one point, in his capacity as opposition party leader that drew some criticism. Lee would maintain good relations with China, and keep a safe distance, and make no concessions to Japan on outstanding issues without some reciprocity from Japan. There is no way he would have gone along with the Camp David nonsense, or joined a tri-lateral Indo Pacific alliance directed at China. Given the association of religious extremists with the WACL, an ostensibly international organization like Sincheonji, the latter probably does have intelligence and political connections, as does the Unification Church, so that potentially could lead simply to South Korea's NIS or to western agencies.
It's early to speculate but I'm not accepting the lone nut theory at this point. Also, because the South Korean administration itself and its police and prosecutors are nooriously political and far from impartial, an independent investigation with a special prosecution team is necessary.
There are tit for tat artillery exercises going on in the west sea in an area near some of the South Korean islands off the North Korean coast. Hope no one gets hurt. That's been in the US newsfeeds so I don't really have much to add. If I were the North I would have avoided this kind of military activity so close to the campaign season. It's counter intuitive. Raising the military tension during campaign season in the South especially hurts North Korean security interests, and is more hazardous to peace, but DPRK's internal agenda may be generating this.
note-made some edits to the original post 1.8.24 for grammar, style, and clarity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)