South Korea: Yoon post-election crackdown on political opponents underway

[soryang]

Last edited Fri Jun 3, 2022, 10:36 AM - Edit history (1)

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(Source- 언론 알아야 바꾼다 youtube 6.2) This political cartoon depicts the grim bias of the South Korean media in collusion with the justice system again under Yoon Seok-yeol's complete control. Former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung's wife, Kim Hye-kyeong, is being investigated by police for suspicion of misuse of an office credit card while Lee Jae-myung was Governor of Gyeonggido. Police obtained warrants to search 129 commercial establishments including a number of restaurants and cafes. The graphic shows Lee's wife inside the red box apologizing for an alleged unauthorized purchase of meat made on the office credit card for around 100 dollars, while the mainsteam broadcast media on prime time produce numerous exclusive reports and news flashes, portraying horror and shock.

Outside the conservative media coverage (outside the red box), Yoon, his mother in law Choi, and wife, Kim Gon-hee, are portrayed in connection with their latest alleged financial derelictions. Yoon has never revealed what exactly his office expenses, as Prosecutor General, 14.7 billion won (over ten million dollars) were spent on. An accounting has never been released to the public. Choi's trials for fraudulent operation of a rehabilitation center resulting in two million dollars of state medical funds as income to her resulted in an acquittal on appeal after a belated trial. All other suspects received prison terms. Wife Kim Gon-hee was never investigated for her alleged involvement in an insider stock trading scandal (Deustche Motors) also where all the other suspects were given terms of confinement after trial. Kim was alleged to have profited by approximately 3 million dollars in that scheme. Her mother was also alleged to have been involved. Each family member contemplates the proverbial "gold spoon" 금수저 symbolic of the favoritism afforded Korean elites.

Recent news reports indicate that Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung himself is now under investigation for election law violations along with 48 officials elected to local or regional offices in the June 1 elections. Lee just won office as a National Assembly member from an Inchon district June 1, in a race to fill a vacancy, after having lost the March 9 presidential election to Yoon . The legal actions the day after the regional elections are widely regarded as "revenge investigations" but are also considered by some critics to reflect an attempt to establish authoritarian rule through Yoon's consolidated control of the administration of justice by eliminating political rivals from the public stage by prosecuting them.

Lee allegedly promulgated false information intending to affect the campaign outcome by circulating a facebook entry that affirmed he was against privatization of state assets including electric power, water works, airports and railroads. This is alleged by PPP to have been a factual misrepresentation of the conservative administration's position which had not considered "privatization." Lee published his position on facebook on May 18, the day after the Chief of Yoon's presidential secretarial office chief, Kim Dae-gi 김대기 stated, in a National Assembly steering committee hearing, that public assets including those mentioned by Lee, could be financialized by selling off 30 to 40 percent of the public entity in the form of stock to the public. He said it would be a large financial resource to the government. He argued that the fact that the government retained a 51 percent controlling interest and management rights of the state entity made characterizing the transaction as privatization untrue. Yet, this issue had come up in the Lee Myung-bak administration, in whose office Kim had served, where the same thing was tried with Korea Power, a state electric utility, and the failure to produce return for minority stakeholders resulted in repeated litigation, financial losses, and increasing utility bills for customers.

Also to consider is Yoon's avowed admiration for the policies of economist Milton Friedman, and that the top five floors of the so called "People's House" presidential office building on Yongsan garrison are devoted to "public private" partnerships. The investigation of Lee is clearly contrived and politically motivated. The winner of the Gyeonggi Province governor's race, another democrat is also targeted. Lee's election and the election of Kim Dong-yon as Geonggido governor were the high points in the otherwise poor showing of the democratic party candidates in the regional and local elections. Reportedly, in addition to a total of 48 elected candidates being investigated are hundreds of others for alleged election law violations.*

*878 under prosecution probe for alleged violations related to local elections; Yonhap News Agency, 1630 June 2;
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220602006851315