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Korea Herald
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
People Power Party infighting over presidential nomination turns bitter
While conservatives are held back by bitter party feud, Democratic Party of Korea's Lee Jae-myung hitting campaign trail daily and gliding through polls With the June 3 presidential election less than a month away, the People Power party is gripped by an infighting that has spilled into public view. Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo on Saturday filed an injunction with the court seeking to nullify the People Power Party leadership's decision to cancel his nomination for president. Kim held an emergency press conference and said the People Power Party dropping his nomination was "unlawful" and "unjust." "In the dead of the night, a political coup unfolded right under my nose," he said. Kim applied for injunction with the Seoul's southern district court at 12:35 p.m. according to his campaign office. The court on Friday dismissed another injunction filed by Kim for barring the People Power Party nomination process from starting over. At around 4 a.m. Saturday, the entire People Power Party, after an all-night meeting, reached an agreement to remove Kim and reopen the process to select a new nominee. After he won the primary on May 3, however, Kim appeared to rethink his initial pledge to join forces with Han Duck-soo, the former prime minister who served as acting president for the past few months. According to party insiders familiar with the matter, Kim entered the primary on the promise of endorsing Han, who later stepped down as acting president. But Kim retreated from behind-the-scenes negotiations once he snagged the nomination, ultimately declaring he would run by himself. In a press conference Saturday, Rep. Kwon Young-se, the People Power Party's leader, apologized for the switch in nomination close to the deadline for presidential candidate registration with the National Election Commission, which is Sunday. "Our party did our best to put together a 'big tent' presidential campaign," Kwon said. "We have been communicating and coordinating with candidate Kim Moon-soo, repeatedly asking him to keep his promise of forming a united front. I'm incredibly disheartened that our efforts for reaching a consensus have failed." The People Power Party leadership has said that a "big tent campaign" and "united front" joining the party's strongest options was the "only way" to beat Lee Jae-myung, the rival Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate. The People Power Party entered Han as its nominee to replace Kim. Han presented himself as reformer and negotiator in an address Saturday. The former acting president said he was the only candidate who will reform the political power structure, which would necessitate a revision of the Constitution, and lead the economy out of its doldrums. "I had the honor of serving South Korea and its great people for the last 50 years. It would be my honor to have the opportunity to serve the country at a time of time of tumultuous change," Han said. Han said that if the conservatives aren't united, the People Power Party would risk handing the country over to the forces who "threaten to change laws and impeach officials if it means they can get their way." Outside the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Saturday, competing rallies for and against the nomination switch unfolded. Some of the other candidates who ran in the People Power Party came to Kim's defense, with four-time Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo saying it was the former labor minister's "prerogative" to run his campaign as he wished. Ahn, in a press conference Saturday, called on the party leadership to resign over the "nominee flip-flop." While the People Power Party is held back by a bitter party feud, the Democratic Party's Lee is hitting the trail daily and gliding through the polls. Lee, who is on day 10 of his "listening tour" around the rural parts of the country, visited the South Gyeongsang Province on Saturday, holding meetings with small business owners and residents of counties. Rep. Kim Min-seok, who is on the Democratic Party's supreme council, said the current People Power Party leaders "will be going down as the greatest fools in the history of South Korean politics" for what they pulled close to the election.
Straits Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
South Korea's Han Duck-soo to run in June presidential election
Mr Han Duck-soo stepped down as South Korea's stand-in leader on May 1, paving the way for his declaration on May 2. PHOTO: EPA-EFE SEOUL – South Korea's former acting president Han Duck-soo has entered the fray for the country's top office, amid a flurry of leadership changes as the nation prepares for a June 3 presidential election. 'I am a president focused on the economy, a president who can win, a person who will move forward, not veer to the left or the right, and a person who will keep his promises and then step down,' Mr Han said. Mr Han pledged to amend the Constitution in a bid to bring more stability to a country rocked by political instability in recent months following Yoon Suk Yeol's bungled attempt to enforce martial law and his subsequent ouster. 'I will properly and persistently pursue constitutional revision and I will properly and persistently take care of the people's livelihoods,' Mr Han said. Mr Han stepped down as South Korea's stand-in leader on May 1, paving the way for his declaration on May 2. His resignation was followed by an attempt by the opposition-led Parliament to impeach Mr Han's replacement, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, a move that prompted Mr Choi to resign. That resulted in Education Minister Lee Ju-ho taking on the role of acting president. Mr Han may eventually seek to unite a campaign with the final candidate of the centre-right People Power party, which will be selected over the weekend. Opinion polls show the opposition Democratic Party's presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung as the front-runner in the election by a wide margin. But Lee faces further complications in his bid to become leader after the Supreme Court overturned an acquittal ruling in a case against him that could make him ineligible to take public office. Lee is still likely to stand in the presidential election since he would probably appeal a reviewed sentence if that came before the vote. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
South Koreans are celebrating Yoon's impeachment, but the saga is far from over
It had been a long and at times intolerable wait. But the South Korean constitutional court's decision on Friday to oust Yoon Suk Yeol from office may have restored the public's faith in their democracy. For 22 minutes, millions of South Koreans held their breath as the chief justice of the constitutional court, Moon Hyung-bae, began delivering the court's verdict on Yoon's impeachment over his chaotic declaration of martial law in December. With each damning statement, Moon raised the hopes of the crowds outside who had been demanding the suspended president's permanent removal from office. Yoon's actions, he said, had constituted 'a serious challenge to democracy', adding that the 64-year-old conservative populist had 'committed a grave betrayal of the people's trust' in bringing about South Korea's worst political crisis since it became a democracy in the late 1980s. When Moon finally uttered the words: 'The defendant president Yoon Suk Yeol is hereby removed from office,' the crowd erupted with cheers. The ruling sets in motion a 60-day countdown to elect a new leader, the date to be confirmed within 10 days by the acting president, Han Duck-soo. Political parties are already scrambling to select candidates, with the Democratic party's Lee Jae-myung – a longtime Yoon nemesis – currently leading the polls. Yoon's conservative People Power party, meanwhile, has the unenviable task of selecting a candidate who is untainted by association with Yoon's failed administration. The national assembly's first impeachment vote in December was an opportunity for the party to distance itself from Yoon. Instead, People Power MPs doubled down, boycotting the vote and continuing to back their embattled leader. They then amplified what many believe to be Yoon's groundless claims that previous elections, including a national assembly vote earlier in the year, had been mired in voting fraud. The conspiracy theories found fertile ground among Yoon's supporters, who adopted Trump-style slogans such as 'stop the steal' as they took to the streets. By invoking cold war language about 'pro-North Korean, anti-state forces' to describe his political opponents, analysts said Yoon deepened the political divide in an already polarised country. Whoever becomes president later this year faces the unenviable task of healing those divisions and rebuilding trust in the democratic institutions that Yoon so casually undermined. The ruling marked the end of a tumultuous three years for the conservative populist. The former senior prosecutor who had led the case for impeachment against the then president, Park Geun-hye in 2017, now has the same ignominious postscript to his presidency. Having won the 2022 election – beating the liberal Lee by the slimmest of margins – Yoon was initially admired as an assertive and strong-willed leader, until those qualities were exposed as an unwillingness to compromise or accept criticism. As he struggled to implement budgets and key policies in the opposition-controlled national assembly, Yoon grew increasingly irritable, targeting critical journalists, confronting striking doctors, blocking attempts to investigate corruption allegations involving the first lady, Kim Keon Hee, and labelling opposition MPs as a 'den of criminals' working in cahoots with communist North Korea. Human rights activists welcomed Friday's verdict. In a statement, Human Rights Watch said Yoon's attempt to impose martial law had 'posed a grave threat to human rights and the rule of law'. It added: 'If martial law had been maintained, South Koreans would have faced the risk of arrest and detention without trial as well as severe restrictions on their freedom of expression and assembly, among other human rights violations. The constitutional court's ruling was a decisive step to uphold human rights protections and democratic values.' Some characterise Yoon's removal as the start of a process to restore public faith in South Korea as a liberal democracy with a successful economy and a culture admired around the world. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the court's verdict had 'removed a major source of uncertainty. And not a moment too soon, given how the next administration in Seoul must navigate North Korea's military threats, China's diplomatic pressure, and Trump's trade tariffs'. It is a sentiment shared by anti-Yoon protesters who had gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict. When his removal was announced, they cheered, danced and cried. 'When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,' said Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old protester. 'We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!' But the saga is far from over. Few believe that candidates and voters in the forthcoming presidential election will be able to put the acrimony of the past four months behind them, while Yoon faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection – a crime that carries a maximum term of life imprisonment or the death penalty. 'If people start refusing to accept any election outcome that is unfavourable to them, the other side will start doing the same,' said Kim Tae-hyung, a professor at Soongsil University in Seoul. 'If that cycle continues, trust in democracy will completely collapse.'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jailed pro-democracy Hong Kong radio host loses final appeal over sedition conviction
By Jessie Pang and Anson Law HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's top court on Thursday dismissed a bid to overturn the 2022 conviction and sentence of jailed pro-democracy activist Tam Tak-chi under a colonial-era sedition law. Tam, a former member of the now-disbanded People Power party and also radio host DJ known as "Fast Beat", was the first Hong Kong person tried on a sedition charge since the city's handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. His case is also the first time the top court has heard an appeal against the colonial-era sedition law. The five judges said in a ruling that "the prosecution was not required to establish that the words uttered by the appellant were intended to incite violence or public disorder". Tam did not appear in court on Thursday but made several Facebook posts. "Knowing that it was impossible, I still walked to the end of this road all the way to the Court of Final Appeal. This is the cross I had to bear," Tam said. "Although I've been in jail for four years, I can still bear it. The ones who are really suffering are regular people, and Hong Kong's freedoms and democracy." Tam's lawyer, Philip Dykes, earlier cited a statement by Gandhi in his sedition trial in 1922 and argued that people should enjoy the freedom to express disaffection against a person or system as long as they did not incite violence. "Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence," Dykes said, quoting Gandhi's statement. Tam was sentenced to 40 months jail in 2022 by District Court Judge Stanley Chan on a total of 11 charges that included uttering seditious words such as "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times", public disorder and incitement to take part in an unauthorised assembly. Hong Kong passed a home-grown national security law (Article 23) last March. The law stiffened penalties for sedition up to seven years in jail and a maximum of 10 years if the act involves collusion with an "external force". Critics including the U.S. have criticised the law and said the vague provisions on "sedition" could be used to curb dissent. Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the new law is necessary to plug "loopholes" in the national security regime.
Reuters
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Jailed pro-democracy Hong Kong radio host loses final appeal over sedition conviction
HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's top court on Thursday dismissed a bid to overturn the 2022 conviction and sentence of jailed pro-democracy activist Tam Tak-chi under a colonial-era sedition law. Tam, a former member of the now-disbanded People Power party and also radio host DJ known as "Fast Beat", was the first Hong Kong person tried on a sedition charge since the city's handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. His case is also the first time the top court has heard an appeal against the colonial-era sedition law. The five judges said in a ruling that "the prosecution was not required to establish that the words uttered by the appellant were intended to incite violence or public disorder". Tam did not appear in court on Thursday but made several Facebook posts. "Knowing that it was impossible, I still walked to the end of this road all the way to the Court of Final Appeal. This is the cross I had to bear," Tam said. "Although I've been in jail for four years, I can still bear it. The ones who are really suffering are regular people, and Hong Kong's freedoms and democracy." Tam's lawyer, Philip Dykes, earlier cited a statement by Gandhi in his sedition trial in 1922 and argued that people should enjoy the freedom to express disaffection against a person or system as long as they did not incite violence. "Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence," Dykes said, quoting Gandhi's statement. Tam was sentenced to 40 months jail in 2022 by District Court Judge Stanley Chan on a total of 11 charges that included uttering seditious words such as "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times", public disorder and incitement to take part in an unauthorised assembly. Hong Kong passed a home-grown national security law (Article 23) last March. The law stiffened penalties for sedition up to seven years in jail and a maximum of 10 years if the act involves collusion with an "external force". Critics including the U.S. have criticised the law and said the vague provisions on "sedition" could be used to curb dissent. Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the new law is necessary to plug "loopholes" in the national security regime.
