If I Leave

나 가거든.. 명성황후 Empress Meongseong OST
Lyrics Kang Eun-kyeong, Composition Lee Kyeong-shim, Original artist: Sumi Jo

쓸쓸한 달빛 아래
Below the still moonlight
내 그림자 하나 생기거든
My shadow emerges!
그땐 말해볼까요 이 마음
Shall it tell of that time?
들어나 주라고
Listen to this heart
문득 새벽을 알리는
Aware of sudden daybreak
그 바람 하나가 지나거든
Should that momentary desire pass
그저 한숨쉬듯 물어볼까요
As if taking a breathe, shall I inquire?
나는 왜 살고 있는지
Why am I living?

나 슬퍼도 살아야 하네
Even though sad, I must live,
나 슬퍼서 살아야 하네
Even though sad, I must live
이 삶이 다 하고 나야 알텐데
This life, I must give it all to know
내가 이 세상을 다녀간 그 이율
the reason I spent time in this world,
나 가고 기억하는 이
Upon my leave, remember this-
나 슬픔까지도 사랑했다 말해주길
Even though there was sadnesss, I'll say I loved
흩어진 노을처럼
like the red sky of the setting sun,
내 아픈 기억도 바래지면
If my hurtful memories also fade
그땐 웃어질까요 이 마음
Then, shall I laugh? This heart
그리운 옛일로
longing for the past
저기 홀로선 별 하나
That sole star over there
나의 외로움을 아는건지
Knows my loneliness
차마 날 두고는 떠나지 못해
Please, don't leave me here alone
밤새 그 자리에만
Overnight, only in this place.

나 슬퍼도 살아야 하네
Even though sad, I must go on living,
나 슬퍼서 살아야 하네
Even though sad, I must go on living,
이 삶이 다 하고 나야 알텐데
This life, I must give it all to know
내가 이 세상을 다녀간 그 이율
the reason I spent time in this world
나 가고 기억하는 이
Upon my leave, remember this-
내 슬픔까지도 사랑하길 우우
Even though there is sadness, I will love...oh...oh

부디 먼 훗날
Please, in the days long after
나 가고 슬퍼하는 이
this my sad passing..
나 슬픔속에도 행복했다 믿게
Even though I was sad at heart, believe I was happy.

Hangul lyrics Source: Musixmatch

My own translation, a work in progress. Other lyrics translations of this famous song depicting Empress Meongsang's reflections upon her tragic death by assassination (by the Japanese) appeared to be google AI or something like it. I could be wrong, this is my interpretation. The mournful tune is a metaphor for Korea's tragic modern history.

Han Dong-hun's hand phone- an encryption problem or political problem?

Jang Yong-jin TV Midnight News reports* that Han Dong-hun's handphone which is likely to reveal communications between presidential candidtate Yoon Seok-yeol's wife and his right hand prosecutor (and alleged political fixer) has not yet been sent to Israel for password decryption because of "technical problems." The prosecution offices investigating the so called Channel A News scandal have stalled the investigation. In the case, one of the Channel A reporters, Lee Dong-jae, recruited by Han, allegedly attempted to inveigle a prisoner convicted of financial crimes to incriminate former democratic minister and political pundit Yoo Shi-min. Reporter Jang alleges that this is a political problem rather than a technical problem in the current Prosecutor General's office. The investigating prosecutors had nolle prossed the case against Lee, but a final disposition awaits the forensic examination of Han's phone. Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, who succeeded presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol to the office, has the political "noon chi" ( 눈치 ) or sense to know the evidence on Han's phone is likely to adversely affect Yoon's campaign for the presidential office.

*For any officials or reporters looking at this, here's the original video title from youtube, if you want to examine its contents: [장용진TV/오밤중NEWS] 한동훈 핸드폰 포렌식, 왜 중단됐나? / 김만배, 윤석열 보낼 카드는 뭐? Streamed live on Feb 2, 2022; For the opposite political take on the Channel A News "matter," see:
검찰, 한동훈 폰 포렌식 중단… 이스라엘에 안보냈다 Munhwa Ilbo Dec. 30, 2021; http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2021123001070903347001


Why does the current Minister of Justice, Park Beom-kye, tolerate this stalling tactic by the prosecutor general? Jang Yong-jin says that Park is calculating his own individual political advantage rather than acting as a part of the democratic administration that appointed him. Virtually all the pending or potential criminal investigations and current litigation related to Yoon Seok-yeol, his family, or his political victims, have been determined, reversed, delayed, or otherwise politically neutralized in light of the presidential political campaign of Yoon Seok-yeol. South Korea's prosecutors, investigators, judges and other officials, public and private, fear the political retribution of Yoon Seok-yeol, should his network of chaebol (corporate magnates), mainstream media, and prosecutors, judges and other officials achieve unchallengeable power as a result of the upcoming March 9 presidential elections. It's a potential dictatorship in the making. Those who undertake judicial, investigative, or administrative measures now that would potentially be seen by the vindictive Yoon and his wife as threatening their power, will experience retribution from their political machine metastasizing within the administration of justice and the conservative mainstream, Cho-Joong-Dong media cartels. The electoral process in South Korea is to that extent already seriously corrupted.

It's important to note that discussion of this political problem in South Korea is not some "conspiracy theory." A record of Han Dong-hun's discussions with the Channel A reporter (a Dong A media property) was already disclosed in independent media. Subsequently, the courts threw out the seizure of the reporter's phone claiming it was unlawfully executed. Compare this to the treatment of the illegal seizure of professor Chung Kyung-shim's personal computer by the courts which was seized from a secured storage area on campus in a successful effort to depose the reform minded former Justice Minister Cho Guk by indicting his wife. This process against Cho Guk's family was instigated while Yoon was prosecutor general. Also, in her recent "7 hours" plus of recorded phone conversations, Yoon's wife, Kim Gon-hee, disclosed her vindictive nature and desire to seek revenge on critics and opponents, should she "gain power." She offered to make the reporter "her person" by paying him one hundred million won. She also admitted to the interviewing reporter that she spoke to prosecutor Han Dong-hun often.

For background on the Channel A News Scandal:

South Korea's Press-Prosecution Collusion Scandal: the audio transcript, July 23, 2020;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/07/south-koreas-press-prosecution.html

Seoul Judge Cancels Lee Dong-jae Search Warrant, July 26, 2020;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/07/south-koreas-press-prosecution.html

South Korea: Press- Prosecution collusion affair- the cast, August 3, 2020;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/08/south-korea-press-prosecution-collusion.html

See also:

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol suspended for 2 months by Discipline Committee, Dec. 15, 2020;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/12/prosecutor-general-yoon-seok-yeol.html
Yoon obtained an injunction to block the disciplinary sanctions against him. Later, an appellate review court, dismissed the injunction as without merit, found the supporting evidencee sufficient to support the sanctions, and commented that the findings were sufficient to support Yoon's dismissal from office rather than just a suspension. This was the second displinary measure taken against Yoon in his legal career. The first was orchestrated by Hwang Kyo-ahn to defuse accusations by Jang Dae-tek that Yoon had interfered in investigation of alleged perjury, forgery and fraud on the court by his mother in law in earlier litigation which resulted in Jang, her former business partner, being imprisoned in connection with a business dispute. Choi Eun-soon, Yoon's mother in law, allegedly unlawfully took Jang's investment, worth in excess of two million dollars. Yoon's wife in the "7 hours" recordings referred to Jang as a "dangerous person."

South Korea: Civil "lawfare" continues in the Administration of Justice, Feb. 7, 2021;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2021/02/south-korea-civil-lawfare-continues-in.html
The blog has over a dozen articles related to former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and the political corruption in the administration of justice in South Korea posted since March 2020.

South Korea's Top Prosecutor Embroiled in Family Scandals, March 15, 2020;
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/03/is-yoon-seok-yeol-obstructing.html
법꾸라지- "Legal eel," 법률 과 미꾸라지, a new word formation reflecting the joinder of related persons, information and knowledge, conjoining legal power and skill in use against public order maneuvering like an eel to skillfully screen the persons involved and elude the punishment provided by law. (original source in hangul, Naver.com)

Happy Lunar New Year!

설날 잘 보내세요!

(Source- https://www.antiquealive.com/Blogs/Minhwa_Korean_Folk_Painting.html)

I’ll jail critical journalists, vows wife of South Korean presidential candidate

Richard Lloyd Parry, Tokyo
Thursday January 27 2022, 12.30pm GMT, The Times UK

South Korea’s presidential election has been electrified after the wife of its leading candidate promised to jail critical journalists and suggested that women who claim they are sex assault victims do so for money.

Kim Keon-hee, 49, wife of the conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, fought unsuccessfully in court to prevent a television station from broadcasting recordings of her conversations with a journalist. Her husband’s poll ratings have risen since the broadcast, suggesting some South Koreans approve of her outspokenness.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/south-korean-presidential-candidates-wife-kim-keon-hee-promises-to-jail-critical-journalists-6267glfsg

This is the wife of the candidate the US and Japan support. Unfortunately this report is behind a paywall at The Times of UK. Kim Gon-hee has been lampooned in the French press as well recently. Yoon's family is corrupt through and through as I have been posting about for almost two years. He and his chaebol and fundamentalist supporters on the right have thoroughly corrupted the administration of justice in South Korea. If he is elected South Korea will be on the fast track to authoritarian dictatorship.

Yoon's election will also shift the balance of power of power in northeast Asia in the direction of instability. Yoon's incompetent foreign policy statements indicate he will totally capitulate to US-Japanese demands to adopt anti-China policies and abandon attempts at rapprochement with North Korea. Yoon even has a guru shamanist exorcist assigned to his party's campaign committee, believe it or not. A demonstration by the supporters of the latter is planned at Yoido (the seat of the National Assembly) the day after the extended Lunar New Year holiday weekend, on Tuesday. Promoters of the demonstration, claim they will have 150 to 300 thousand participants. No doubt this is intended in part to discredit the current democratic administration with more increases in covid numbers just before the scheduled March 9 presidential election.

Yoon had said, before the 7 plus hours of recorded conversations were revealed, that his wife disliked politics and wasn't interested in an active role as first lady at the Blue House. The recordings of Kim Gon-hee reveal this to have been a blatant lie. The question now arises as to whether the prospective first lady, who believes she has shamanistic powers, won't emerge in fact as the gatekeeper of power in South Korea much as Choi Soon-shil did in the impeached Park Geun-hye administration.

Yoon's poll ratings have risen in part because of the rampant misogyny among young male voters. Economic frustrations including lack of job opportunities, affordable housing, and the public health restrictions incident to the pandemic have caused younger voters to target "feminism" as the cause.

Kim Gon-hee offered to pay the reporter who recorded the interview as much as 100 million won to become her "person," suggesting the mechanism by which the so called "press prosecution" collusion operated while Yoon was Prosecutor General of South Korea. The offer was an election law violation. She also requested that he inform on fellow journalists or others who were critical of her husband or family members.

"7 Hours" Revisited

Lee, Yoon to have first one-on-one TV debate next week
Politics 11:25 January 18, 2022 Yonhap News Agency

DP candidate Lee Jae-myung will face off against People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27 for a 120-minute debate jointly hosted by the three terrestrial TV stations KBS, MBC and SBS.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220118004100315?section=national/politics

Not likely to go well for presidential candidate Yoon, who is not an effective speaker. The timing is poor too. Do his handlers expect the public to forget by then, the disastrous content of over 50 telephone conversations Yoon's wife had with a reporter from the Voice of Seoul video channel? They were televised by MBC Straight on January 16, and will be revisited on the same program January 23. Meanwhile, the reports on the conversations are going viral on the internet in South Korea.

The conservative candidate's wife, Kim Gon-hee, made statements sharing her perspective on various prosecution decisions while Yoon was prosecutor general and made it quite apparent that politics motivated the office's decisions to prosecute former Justice Minister Cho Guk and his wife, and to put Cho's wife, who is not well, in jail, pending trial and appeal. Ms. Kim's statements linked investigation and prosecution issues against other prominent democrats to political motives. She also appears to be playing a leading role with Yoon's campaign team. Yoon had claimed she despises politics and wouldn't play a "first lady" role at the Blue House if he were elected.

Worse were Ms. Kim's sexist attacks on the Me Too movement. Her observations on a rape case involving democratic politician and former governor, Ahn Hui-jeong, were on the crude side to say the least and could be characterized as mocking the victim. Questions likely to come up could concern the superstitious beliefs of Yoon and his wife. Another would be who is running his campaign, his wife? Is his wife not another Choi Son-shil, the Rasputin of the disgraced Park Geun-hye regime? Is it true, as his wife said, that one has to be an opportunist and play both sides, because one never knows what the future holds? Does Yoon have any political principles or is he a complete Machiavellian believing only in money and power as his wife revealed herself to be?

KIm's recorded statements included not so veiled threats to seek revenge on independent journalism sources on the left such as the Voice of Seoul, O My News TV, and 열린공감TV who have exposed much of the background and history of corruption allegations and legal ramifications of the business dealings of Yoon's wife and mother in law. She said she would do this "after I take power."

Yoon's wife's recorded conversations revealed her to be arrogant, manipulative, vindictive, and vulgar. She attempted to buy the loyalty of the reporter with whom she was communicating. She admitted that she spoke often with prosecutor Han Dong-hun. Han, is viewed by critics as Yoon's right hand man and was alleged to be the coordinator of press-prosecution collusion in politically motivated prosecutions. I'm sure this will provide further insight into Yoon's responses at the debate. The second MBC straight report on the Kim Gon-hee recorded conversations will take place on January 23. After that the Voice of Seoul which recorded the conversations will release those conversations MBC doesn't as allowed by their contract.

For more information on the background of the seven hours of recorded conversations and the injunction limiting their disclosure, I wrote an article a couple of days ago about a day before the June 17 MBC Straight broadcast. The link is below:

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022
“7 Hours” MBC Broadcast may affect presidential election in South Korea

https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2022/01/7-hours-mbc-broadcast-may-affect.html

“7 Hours” MBC Broadcast may affect presidential election in South Korea

Yoon Seok-yeol's wife, Kim Gon-hee, had the poor judgement to engage in numerous telephone conversations over a six month period beginning in July 2021 with a reporter from the Voice of Seoul video channel, Lee Myung-su. The recorded conversations regarded as private by Ms. Kim were transferred to MBC in South Korea for broadcasts planned for 8:20 pm January 16 and 23 on their MBC Straight program. Ms. Kim makes numerous vain, arrogant, intemperate and impolitic admissions in the recordings according to sources with knowledge of the court hearing or the collection of the recordings.

Yoon's supporters filed a petition for injunction to prevent the broadcast alleging the recordings were an invasion of privacy, illegal recording of wire communications, a violation of election laws, and a violation of Ms. Kim's right to remain silent in respect to any ongoing criminal investigations. This is what I have gathered from the commentary from youtube political pundits on the democratic side. On January 14, the court ruled that the broadcast can proceed subject to a two principal restrictions. First, matters subject to criminal investigation against Yoon's wife, such as the pending Deutsche Motors stock manipulation scheme may not be broadcast. Second, purely personal matters concerning Ms. Kim may not be broadcast. Those views that she has expressed involving solely political subjects or opinions on social issues of public concern may be published. The judgement apparently ruled that the wire tapping law did not apply. The privacy violations are apparently being weighed against the South Korean public's right to know the political and social views of the wife of the conservative candidate for president. The court ruled Ms. Kim was a public figure. These are my interpretations of views expressed by South Korean pundits on youtube channels such as 언론 알아야 바꾼다 and 시사건건 and some other news reports including YTN.

This is biggest story in South Korea this year. A google search for Korea news (in English) reveals nothing about this story which has been pending for three days. This may affect US foreign policy markedly. The US and Japan have made no secret of their distaste for the Moon administration and its potential progressive successor as President of South Korea, Lee Jae-myung. The election of Yoon Seok-yeol would markedly change South Korean policy toward North Korea, China and Japan and could result in the virtual abandonment of South Korean efforts to change the relationship with North Korea and maintain friendly relations with China.

Yoon's wife is derisively viewed by critics as "Julie" or "Member Yuji" which are references, respectively, to allegations she was a hostess at the Renaissance Hotel nightclub in her college years and plagiarized her Ph.D. thesis. She is also alleged to be, along with her mother, someone who manipulated the judicial system for private gain, and who is an ignorant superstitious person. She is portrayed by critics as a potential Rasputin type figure similar to Choi Soon-sil, who controlled access to Park Geun-hye, the former impeached president. The feeling is that these allegations are not going to be addressed definitively in the broadcast, because any references to them in the recorded conversations will probably be subject to the partially successful injunction. Yet, it is widely believed that the more than seven hours of recordings will be sufficient to provide enough insight into Kim's views and opinions to reveal a character which is likely to meet with substantial public disapproval. The combined recordings are seven hours forty five minutes in length total and represent over 50 contacts with the Voice of Seoul reporter. Kim's previous public apology for her falsified academic resumes resulted in candidate Yoon Seok-yeol claiming that his wife "hated politics" and would not maintain the office of the first lady at the Blue House if he is elected in the March 9, 2022 presidential election. Disclosures already leaked from the courtroom concerning Kim's statements in the recordings strongly suggest this is a bold faced lie.

Bek Eun-jong, the representative of the Voice of Seoul channel said that he was determined to go ahead and publish anything in the recordings that was not disclosed in the scheduled MBC Strait programming. Much of the speculation of replacing Yoon with another PPP candidate before the mid February official registration of candidates for the presidential election revolves almost entirely around the risk that his wife presents to the election campaign. These developments were entirely predictable but the conservatives felt that with their effective control of the mainstream media and the administration of justice in South Korea that they could contain the dissemination of adverse information about Yoon and his family members. This has been true for the most part, but the only partial success of the injunction may further damage Yoon's campaign.

Yoon Seok-yeol's gaffe problem: "Am I an idiot?"

(Source- 언론 알아야 바꾼다 youtube 01.02.2022) Yoon gaffe award winner: "It's not just that in the life of poor and uneducated people they don't even know what freedom is, but that they cannot see the necessity for each person's individual freedom."

Here's another Yoon gaffe winner reported in the (conservative) Korea Herald:

The conservative opposition People Power Party‘s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl asked the rhetorical question on Wednesday if he is an “idiot” to take part in a TV debate with his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung. His remark has now become a viral meme in online communities.

At a campaign event on Wednesday in Andong, a conservative stronghold, Yoon dismissed a proposal by the candidate from the ruling Democratic Party to debate him.

“The Democratic Party candidate wants us to debate. Am I an idiot?” Yoon said to a cheering crowd.

Yoon's 'Am I an idiot?' remark turns into a viral meme, Korea Herald, By Yim Hyun-su, Dec 31, 2021
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20211231000439

There's a lot Yoon doesn't want to talk about. He's not very knowledgeable on the issues either. Without a teleprompter or handler to whisper answers into his ear when questioned, he appears hesitant, groping for answers and ill at ease. He continues to damage his campaign prospects as questions about his competence raise comparisons to former president Park Geun-hye who was impeached. The People’s Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-yeol’s lead in the polls has evaporated recently with recent unfavorable disclosures about his wife's academic resume misrepresentations and his mother in law's criminal convictions appearing in some South Korean news media. An authoritarian with no prior electoral experience, he is impolitic in his remarks. He is known as “gaffe a day” Yoon. He insults some group of people almost every time he opens his mouth. Declining to debate Lee Jae-myung as a campaign event, is something that is almost unheard of since the period of dictatorships.

A broad spectrum of recent polls confirm that Yoon's public statements in conjunction with family disclosures in the media have resulted in the loss of his lead in the polls, with the democratic candidate for president Lee Jae-myung now leading in the polls anywhere from 5 to 11 percent, depending on the source, well outside the typical 3.1 percent margin of error. Possible unification of the Yoon campaign with the campaign of the People's Party Ahn Chul-soo could add a few percentage points to Yoon's polling numbers to make it competitive . However, the polling trend is alarming for the Yoon camp. The PPP campaign committee seems to be disarray and at a loss as to how to reverse Yoon's slide in popularity.

Many of Yoon's gaffes are either overt or thinly disguised attacks on democratic rival Lee Jae-myung or Lee's supporters. In the context of the "poor and uneducated" comment by Yoon, he referred to those who don't have a formal education. Lee himself came from a poor family and didn't complete formal middle school or high school, and obtained graduate equivalency and college entrance with the generous help of teachers. He earned his own way through college and went to law school becoming a human rights lawyer, later elected a two time mayor of Seongnam, and then governor of Gyeonggido (province). Yoon has never been elected to office. In another gaffe which achieved some notoriety from critics, Yoon said that those who brag about having a GED, are insulting those who got their education the normal way.