New Anti-Corruption Committee - Threatens Right in South Korea

(Source- 뉴스썰TV, 4.27) Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Committee. Graphic shows the composition of the seven seat committee considering referrals of suspected cases of official corruption for investigation and prosecution. The committee is the product of fast track reform legislation in the National Assembly desperately resisted by the right wing in South Korea since April 2019 but the bill passed anyway.

The image shows of the seven members of the committee, only two (far right) are designated from the opposition party. The senior member would be the Justice Minister (far left). Second from the left is the Chief of Court Administration. These two executive members are designated by the President of Korea, a democrat, and come from the ruling administration. Additionally, two additional committee members are recommended from the incumbent party, giving the seven member committee, a four member democratic majority. They are designated in blue in the diagram. One ostensibly independent member depicted in gray in the diagram, is the Chief of the Korean Attorneys Association. One can readily understand the militant and strident resistance to the prosecutorial reform bill by the conservative right. As a result to this moment the right wing opposition and the Chief Prosecutors office are resisting the imposition of "outside" supervisory authority and continuing their customary practice of instituting prosecutions of their opponents on the left, and stonewalling investigations of persons and institutions involved in corrupt practices and abuse of official positions. This state of affairs is sarcastically referred to by critics as the "republic of lawyers."

(Source- 뉴스썰TV, 4.27) Supreme Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol (right) greeting prosecutor Han Dong-hun, (far left). The latter is suspected by political opponents of being the source of an unlawful relationship with the press to arrange for political motivated indictments.

There are a number of investigations that are alleged to have been either been obstructed or facilitated by the Supreme Prosecutor's influence, depending on the family or political orientation of the accused. The first involves a series of legal cases brought by, for and against Yoon Seok-yeol's mother in law and wife, who have emerged legally unscathed over the last seventeen years while others have gone to jail in fraudulent or otherwise illegal business schemes, which reaped Yoon's family millions of dollars. The second involves the case brought against the family of the former democratic Justice Minister Cho Guk, and the minister himself who was forced to step down. The third involves cases filed by public interest groups and the democratic National Assembly leadership against Hwang Kyo-ahn and Na Kyung-won, conservative opposition leaders for various actions either interfering in legal processes, or the functions of the National Assembly. The fourth involves alleged illegal use of the press, by the public prosecutor's office to generate public support for prosecution of political opponents, rivals or critics.

Political pundits on the left assert that but for the public health measures in effect as a result of the covid 19 epidemic, massive crowds would be gathering now in Seoul's public plazas to demand the investigation of Yoon Seok-yeol and his subordinate, Han Dong-hun, to determine whether they attempted to collude with Channel A News to frame Yoo Shi-min by soliciting perjury. Yoo is a prominent activist and highly visible media figure on the left. He is the chief executive of the No Mu-hyun Foundation. The unprecedented electoral victory by the Democratic Party on April 15, and polls showing Moon Jae-in's popularity in excess of sixty percent suggest this is true. The two conservative leaders, Hwang Kyo-ahn and Na Kyung-won, were soundly defeated in the April 15 general election. One counter strategy of the United Future Party after its disastrous defeat is to initiate litigation to determine that the April 15 election results were rigged. This seems unlikely as polls going into the election showed a rising trend of approval for Democratic President Moon Jae-in and just before the election estimated his approval at 56 to 58 percent.

Yoon clings to Na Kyung-won

(Source- 뉴스썰TV, 4.7 youtube) Na Kyung-won, United Future Party candidate for National Assembly representative (left) and Supreme Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol posing for pictures in a political campaign setting.

Supreme Prosecutor Yoon again demonstrates that he has abandoned all pretense of objective demeanor in law enforcement as he embraces the former Liberty Party Korea floor leader's campaign for reelection to the assembly on April 15. Complaints referred to the prosecution office for various unlawful acts or criminal offenses by Na and her family have languished under Yoon's stewardship. ( See previous blog entries on the corruption scandals surrounding Na and Yoon respectively). There is a reciprocal give and take between Yoon and Na over the years which served effectively to obstruct investigation or prosecution of either of them or their family members. There are each more committed to each other than ever for their political survival. Na had attempted to obstruct the fast track reform legislation that was a top priority of the democratic party and justice party with everything the far right could muster in terms of obstruction of legislative process in the National Assembly.

Na has criticized news reports describing suspicions of internal interference in investigations and prosecutions related to several business frauds in which Yoon's wife and mother in law were parties as "fake news." Relevant media sources such as MBC News warn of an improper and toxic relationship between the conservative press, and the prosecutor's office as a legacy of authoritarian practices on the right in South Korea. Na's public rebuttals on the campaign trail, whether in support of her own family or Yoon's, are regarded as unfounded and perfunctory.

If it weren't for the current health emergency measures in effect currently in South Korea due to the corona virus epidemic, there is little question that hundreds of thousands of South Koreans would manifest their disgust for Yoon's unprofessional conduct by demonstrating in Seoul, to demand his resignation, investigation and prosecution. Yoon is expected to be the first target of the new Office for Prosecution of Public Officials. Election outcomes on April 15 in the National Assembly will be regarded as a litmus test for public approval of prosecutions of corrupt individuals in government, to break the undue influence the prosecutor's office in both bringing prosecutions and burying investigations based upon political favoritism.

Update: April 11

Na's has brought legal action, against MBC News, seeking an injunction prohibiting any republication of reports that her husband's action, as a judge delaying the case brought against Yoon's mother-in-law by a former business partner, alleging fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, was legally baseless stonewalling, and political favoritism. The court denied Na's action, saying there was no legal basis for it, and that requests to suppress press reports of suspicious actions of public officials should be regarded with great caution. This is second lawsuit brought by Na, alleging defamation against herself or her husband that has been dismissed in the last month.

Prosecutors charge 28 National Assembly members with offenses

Today the Southern District of the Seoul Prosecutors Office charged a total of 37 persons with offenses against the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. 28 of the persons charged are elected members of National Assembly. Five members of the Democratic Party are charged with violence inflicting injury (battery). Twenty three members of the opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) are charged with various offenses contributing to violations against the proceedings of the National Assembly. The overarching violation is punishable by a fine of five million won and expulsion from the National Assembly with a ban on participation in the assembly for five years.

(Source- JTBC News, 1.2.19) "Hwang Kyo-ahn, three charges; Na Kyung-won, 5 charges...determined to be (leaders) directing at the scene."

The charged members of the LKP party are charged with various elements of the obstruction of the National Assembly. Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is not an Assembly member but the former prime minister and head of the LKP is charged with three offenses. Na Kyung won the former floor leader of the LKP in the assembly is charged with five offenses. The two of them are considered to be the organizers of the attempt last April to obstruct consideration and submission of fast track proposals to the National Assembly. This past week those proposals were passed in the National Assembly despite further efforts by the LKP party at obstruction legal and otherwise, inside the Assembly. The fast track legislation included an electoral reform law and a prosecutorial reform bill establishing a prosecution office for the investigation of crimes by public officials, among other prosecution reforms. LKP members at first physically obstructed the vote by physically assaulting the Speaker, and then filibustered and then finally boycotted the vote.

(Source- JTBC News, 1.2.19) Scene of physical confrontation in the National Assembly, April 2017.

Listed offenses of LKP members relating to the previous episodes of disorderly conduct inside the National Assembly in April 2019, include, violation of the proceedings of the National Assembly; joint detention and refusal to withdraw; special interference with government officials in the performance of duty; concealing public documents; and obstructing the Speaker of the National Assembly. Hwang is charged with special interference with the performance of duty by a public official; violation of the proceedings of the National Assembly; and obstructing the Speaker of the National Assembly. Na is charged with those same offenses and the offenses of joint detention and obstruction refusal to withdraw.

(Source- JTBC News 10.18) National Assembly Broadcast caught the fast track confrontation live on camera while it happened, April 25, 2019.


This development is likely to lead to further confrontation this weekend as massive demonstrations are planned in downtown Seoul against the incumbent administration. This is a constitutional crisis brought on by the unlawful actions of the right wing LKP party, their leaders, some of their elected members of the National Assembly and their fundamentalist, militarist and authoritarian supporters.

(Source: YTN News, 12.28) Happening again, "animal National Assembly." The speaker of the assembly's platform is occupied (by a human wall of Liberty Korea Party representatives); a physical fight is ongoing. Speaker Moon center being physically assaulted by members of the Liberty Korea Party attempting to stall the passage of the electoral reform bill. This happened last week.

South Korean Domestic Instability

Last April, representatives of the right wing Liberty Korea Party and their staff illegally obstructed South Korea's National Assembly by blocking the hallways, doors and passageways of the assembly building and in some cases committing assaults in an attempt to stop passage of the so called "fast track" procedure for consideration of bills within 330 days. The fast track measure was proposed as a necessary means to overcome LKP stonewalling legislation by bottling reform bills up in committee indefinitely with their boycotts of the legislative process and other stalling tactics. Recently, 18 members of the LKP have refused to accept summons process from the Seoul Prosecutors Office Southern District in an investigation of their suspected criminal acts in the National Assembly building. In a "tit for tat" response, the LKP filed criminal complaints against members of the ruling Democratic Party. The criminal investigation against the LKP, includes, Na Kyung-won, the party floor leader. Hwang Kyo-ahn, the leader of the LKP and former Saenuri Party Prime Minister during the Park impeachment, who shaved his head in protest to the administration, said he should be the one called to formally answer for the events disrupting the legislative process. Because much of the criminal activity is apparent on video recordings of the scene inside the assembly building and third party witnesses were present, the criminal investigation could go forward without taking statements from the named suspects. Some observers say prosecution of sitting members of the legislature for these actions may simply just aggravate the ongoing political conflict.

The net outcome of this obstruction of governance by the minority conservative opposition party has been to take the issues that are intended for a legislative vote in National Assembly on November 29, and make them an issue for street politics by mass crowds. Democratic partisans have held a total of nine mass demonstrations thus far in favor of prosecution reforms, which will increase investigative powers of police agencies to offset the overwhelming power of the central prosecutors office, and by reducing the special prosecutors offices operating in six regional offices in South Korea. The monopoly of prosecution powers is felt to encourage corruption by making prosecutors, in effect, immune from investigative initiatives from law enforcement. The demonstrations began in response to the two month long investigation of the family of the Justice Minister, Cho Kuk.

Cho Kuk, the new Justice Minister appointed by the Blue House, has had family members subject to formal investigation by the Central prosecutor's office for two months now. Massive street demonstrations by democratic party supporters against the prosecutors office are styled as both support for Cho Kuk, who has been appointed to carry out prosecution reforms, and support for the reforms themselves. Cho Kuk's daughter and mother have been accused of falsifying records and perhaps influence peddling to obtain academic credentials from prestigious institutions and are under investigation. It is somewhat ironic that the son of the LKP legislative floor leader, Na Kyung-won, is accused by the press of similar abuses. Cho Kuk's family members, including his wife, are also accused of engaging in suspicious financial activities which may be a cover for influence peddling. It appears that the focus of the central prosecutors investigation is, in fact, Cho Kuk, as the investigation spreads a broad net in search of evidence. Again, ironically, the Prosecutor General, has been accused in the press, of taking gifts and having conflicts of interest. He denies the accusations.

A more fundamental issue, involves the resistance of the conservative party to fast track of the legislative electoral reforms which would weaken their representation in the National Assembly. The number of proportional voting seats in the assembly of 300 representatives would increase from 47 to 75 giving greater representation to democratic or progressive parties. The estimated effect would be to reduce the number of LKP seats from 117 to 97. This is the crux of the matter really. Additionally, there is a strong regional basis to the right wing vote in South Korea that has been a barrier to reform for decades, used to preserve and protect the interests of chaebol families, corporate management, and legacy pro-Japanese interests. The legislative electoral reform could potentially weaken or temporarily eliminate this obstacle after the next election April 15.

Threats of physical resistance to the present administration are implicit in the last major right wing rally at Gwangwhamoon, on last week's Hangulnal holiday. These threats are in the nature of the type of violent resistance that is going on in Hong Kong presently. At the recent LKP organized Gwangwhamoon demonstrations, the religious and far right constituencies engage in overt adulation of the military dictatorships the right supported in the past, along with claims that the former president, Park Geun Hye, was unjustly impeached and convicted on false evidence of abuse of power contrived by the press. The threats were presented in two forms, first in confrontations with police near the Blue House security cordon, the seat of executive power, not far from Gwangwhamoon. The second is in equivocal language promising the fighting, and resistance, exemplified by Hong Kong street radicals who engage in physical combat with police. The threatening language in speeches given during the presence of leaders of the LKP, ‎Hwang Kyo-ahn and ‎Na Kyung-won, is ambivalent enough to provide "plausible deniability." It's no surprise that the LKP/far right demonstrations call for the impeachment of president Moon Jae-in, along with the resignation and arrest of the Justice Minister, Cho Kuk. The politics of desperation of the far right Liberty Korea Party are on display.

The demonstration this Saturday in Seocho dong, Seoul, by the pro-democratic supporters brought out some right wing counter demonstrators behind the police line, with their ubiquitous US flags sprinkled among the Taegukkis. A very large US flag was displayed out front which took a group of people to carry it. The question is why do opponents of democracy in South Korea invariably bring US flags to their demonstrations?

Sources:

한국당 소환불응 고수…'패스트트랙 충돌' 조사없이 재판 넘기나
송고시간 | 2019-10-13 09:30
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20191013006900004?section=politics/national-assembly&site=major_news01

South Korean National Assembly Fast-tracks Reform Bills Amid Conservative Opposition
May 04, 2019 / Lavinia Ding
https://www.irinsider.org/east-asia-1/2019/5/4/south-korean-national-assembly-fast-tracks-reform-bills-amid-conservative-opposition

여야4당 내일 선거법개정안 발의…한국당 극렬 반발
입력 : 2019.04.23 18:19:53
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/politics/view/2019/04/253734/

[속보] 국회 정개특위서 ‘선거법 개정안’ 가결
등록 :2019-08-29 11:20
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/assembly/907622.html

Updates:

JTBC reported on its Live program (Oct. 13) tonight, that questioning of the relevant prosecutor by the committee responsible for the fast track process disclosed that the prosecutor's office was not certain of the scope of legislative immunity as applied to the disruptive conduct of Liberty Korea Party representatives in the assembly building last April, and that this may affect whether or not warrants for compulsory appearance before investigators was forthcoming.

Cho Kuk resigned today (Oct. 14).

Impressions of the anti- Cho Guk demonstration

The demonstration took place on Kwanghwamoon plaza with a scheduled start of 4 pm local Seoul time. Prior to this it was kicked off by a "prayer day" rally sponsored by a Christian Conference group. There preachers spoke about President Moon Jae-in's socialism and the need to protect South Korea from the threat of pro-communist elements in the government. The conference claimed to be non-partisan. The key speaker called for the impeachment of Moon Jae-in and protested the injustice of the impeachment and imprisonment of former President Park Geun Hye. This is in contrast to an interdenominational conference of clerics which took place indoors about a week ago in support of justice reform initiatives of Moon's administration and the publication of a petition to that effect signed by 8000 clerics and monks of all denominations. The presence of American flags on the podium and in the crowd at the "non-partisan" prayer meeting also raises the traditional stereotype of foreign influences on protestant ministries dabbling in internal politics in Asia.

(Source- JTBC News, 10.3) Jeon Gwang Hoon, executive director of the United Christian Conference, calls for the impeachment of Moon Jae-In, "effective immediately." He also blasted "those expletive deleted illegally impeached Park Geun Hye and instigated the press" (against her). Minister Jeon was criticized for soliciting contributions for himself citing the biblical rewards in store for contributors, while proverbial "men in black" stood guard nearby.

Various claims were made about the size of the demonstration characterized as "people's resistance" and "people's revolution" against Moon Jae-in's democratic party government. Most of the sign's called for Cho Guk to be arrested or resign and for Moon Jae In to resign or be impeached. Estimates claimed by partisans ranged from one to three million persons. Judging from the extent and density of the crowd, it appeared more in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 people which is a surprisingly good turnout for the opposition parties. This was primarily a Liberty Korea Party affair, and their most prominent leaders were there to speak. JTBC news coverage reported that Korean police authorities no longer report on the estimated size of crowds in political demonstrations.

(Source- JTBC News, 10.3)

There were reports of violence at the demonstration. 46 persons were reported arrested for either violence or interfering with official police duties. Most of the people were arrested as they approached the Blue House perimeter, a security zone. As police attempted to ward off demonstrators, it was reported that some armed themselves with wooden clubs of some type and brandished them as weapons against police. Apparently, there is no video of this confrontation. Also a JTBC female reporter was allegedly sexually assaulted by two demonstrators according to their news report. Demonstrators also allegedly attacked one vehicle.

As a whole attempting to characterize the demonstration as a "people's revolution" seems to be patent dissembling. The Liberty Korea Party represents conservative corporate and vested money interests and Christian denomination followers in South Korea. The party is also characterized by limited regional support. The presence of American flags throughout the demonstration as a whole is something of a tell. How beneficial is it for the US to be associated with the calls for the resignation or impeachment of Moon Jae In? The ubiquitous US flag presence implies that the outside power backs our goals.

(Source- JTBC News, 10.3)

In any case the Taegukki People's Revolution Movement, a reactionary far right organization, appeared to be present at the demonstration in force, carrying US flags as well as Korean flags. Their banner (above) featured the former ruthless dictators Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee. It's clear where they're coming from. The presentation of potential violence against the police protecting the Blue House is an obvious threat to the administration, and smacks of the violent provocations in Hong Kong. In fact, a recent tweet, by the untethered Joshua Wong, drew a poorly formulated and unwitting link between the 5.18 massacre in Kwangju and what is going on today in Hong Kong. But back in 1980, the US backed the Chun Du Won dictatorship just as it backed the previous South Korean dictatorships. Hundreds of civilians were killed. There were no consequences for the martial law regime. The forced analogy with the South Korean democratic uprising in Kwangju suggests someone wrote Mr. Wong's media script for him. South Korean right wingers to this day claim the victims of martial law brutality and murder were communists. Today, the Liberty Korea Party, carrying American flags, calls the Korean Democratic Party communists.

Pompeo Tells Kim Jong Un What to Say

(Source- Channel A News - Saturday ranking 5.5) Pompeo says he hopes Kim Jong Un will announce on April 11th at the Supreme People's Assembly that he will denuclearize.

Not surprisingly the two South Korean national security and foreign policy experts on the program didn't expect that to happen. One of the experts felt that Pompeo was trying to elicit from Kim Jong Un a public commitment to denuclearization in the domestic political context of North Korea, that would provide greater evidence of Kim Jong Un's true intentions so he could gain American trust. According to most American oriented observers, the trust issue only works one way, it is the North only that can't be trusted. The Supreme People's Assembly meets on the same day that President Moon Jae In will be present in Washington D.C. for his summit with Donald Trump. Pompeo's recent negative comments about South Korean desires for joint economic initiatives with North Korea were yet another attempt to sandbag the upcoming US- South Korean summit ostensibly softened with Pompeo's hollow expression of empathy for how the Korean people feel and his patronizing condescension toward the Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Hwa. This wasn't discussed in the Channel A News broadcast but was evident in other Korean language reports. Earlier in the program, the expert guests speculated that the failure at Hanoi was due to the incompetence of Kim Jong Un's translator and failures by Kim Yong Chol, and Kim Hyuk Chol. Both seem to have disappeared from view since the Hanoi debacle. Nothing is left to be desired on the US side apparently. The US offered nothing at Hanoi, but made unprecedented demands not reflected in the joint statement from Singapore.

(VOA News 4.6) Pompeo- US government policy is abundantly clear, economic sanctions and UN security council sanctions, will not be eased until the goal of full final denuclearization is achieved.

Channel A News is a conservative broadcaster hostile to the Moon administration, and harping on every error, big or small, his administration makes in an attempt to rehabilitate the conservatives who were devastated in the last off cycle elections and whose previous presidential leadership is now in prison for corruption and abuse of power. The conservative party response in the National Assembly has basically been to boycott all legislative initiatives from the Moon administration and to attack the foreign and defense ministries at legislative hearings whenever possible. The Channel A experts talked about a wrinkled South Korean flag (Tegukki) displayed at a meeting with Spanish diplomats as bringing shame on South Korea and placing Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Hwa's leadership in question.