Smiles Vanished from the State Council Meeting.

• Ministers were publicly reprimanded one after another in front of the president. Not even a joke was exchanged during yesterday’s State Council meeting. The Hankyoreh assessed, “The president launched a crackdown.”
• Below are President Lee Jae-myung’s key remarks.
• The biggest issue is the government resource center fire.
• “You’ve all grasped the situation, right? Real-time data backup is mandated by regulations—correct? But it wasn’t done, right? In reality, it was botched, and what’s the regulation’s status?”
• “Whether it’s an increase, new allocation, or reserve funds—do it as quickly as possible simultaneously.”
• Industrial accident deaths remain unabated.
• “Make it so that if five people die simultaneously, companies know they’ll go bankrupt. If legal revisions are needed, expedite them.”
• Price control was also emphasized.
• “Why are food prices rising so sharply? Because the government’s functions have failed. Even in the Joseon Dynasty, hoarders were executed. Controlling such issues is the government’s role.”
• The statistic that suicide is the leading cause of death among those in their 40s is alarming. He also asked Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, “What is the suicide prevention strategy?”
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What Matters Now.

15% Recovery of Administrative Services.

• 95 out of 647 services have been restored. The pace of recovery has noticeably slowed.
• Observers suggest the goal of normalizing operations within four weeks may be difficult. Kim Min-jae (Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety) stated, “It may take longer than initially expected.”

“Prosecuting the Absurd, Appealing the Acquittal.”.

• “After spending so much money and suffering to get an acquittal, they appealed again—dragging it to the Supreme Court, spending astronomical sums, and though acquitted again, the family is ruined.”
• These were Lee Jae-myung’s remarks at the State Council meeting.
• Only 5% of cases acquitted in the first trial are overturned to guilty in appeals. Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho stated, “There is a need to restrict appeals and retrials.”

Prosecutors’ Pushback.

• Prosecutors from the Kim Keon-hee special investigation team issued a statement requesting “to be returned to their original prosecutors’ offices.”
• The stated reason is prolonged work gaps, but some view this as a collective action protesting the disbandment of the prosecutors’ office.
• Park Eun-jung (Lawmaker, Cho Kuk Reform Party) criticized, “Administrative civil servants are collectively defying the government’s dispatch order.”
• Lee Yong-woo (Lawmaker, Democratic Party) called it “a manifestation of the privileged mindset ingrained in the prosecution’s core,” adding, “It is a clear dereliction of duty and a punishable violation of collective action bans.”
• An anonymous former prosecutor lawyer interviewed by Chosun Ilbo said, “The prosecution is in a situation where it could lose even supplementary investigative powers, yet there were complaints that in the special investigation, handling octopus-style investigations, prosecutions, and maintaining public accusations all at once was unreasonable.”
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Supreme Court Grants Immunity in Judge Ji’s Entertainment Scandal.

• “The current confirmed facts alone make it difficult to recognize job-relatedness,” was the Supreme Court’s ruling. A conclusion reached after four months, yet devoid of substance.
• Two people present were lawyers.
• In the first meeting at a raw fish restaurant, Ji Gwi-yeon (Seoul Central District Court judge) paid 160,000 won; the second moved to a room salon, but Ji claims they left after one or two drinks without calling female staff.
• The Supreme Court maintains it will impose disciplinary action if investigations reveal wrongdoing.
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Why Ji Gwi-yeon Changed Smartphones Twice.

• On February 4, when Yoon requested the revocation of detention, and on May 16, when the room salon entertainment allegations surfaced, Ji Gwi-yeon (Seoul Central District Court judge) replaced his device twice.
• It defies common sense to replace a smartphone purchased in February after just three months. The likelihood of attempting to evade call record tracking is high.
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A Whistleblower Claims 20 Instances of Entertainment for Judge Ji.

• Jeong Ui-chan (Chief Political Affairs Secretary to the Democratic Party Floor Leader) claimed, “The whistleblower said they entertained Ji Gwi-yeon over 20 times in recent years.”
• Jeong Ui-chan was also investigated by the Corruption Investigation Office, and while the Supreme Court summoned and met the whistleblower he encountered, no specifics were disclosed.

Eliminating the Crime of Breach of Trust.

• It is currently stipulated in both the Commercial and Criminal Codes, and both will be abolished.
• Kwon Chil-seung (Democratic Party lawmaker) stated, “We shared the recognition that it excessively stifles the vitality of the people’s economy by hindering corporate creative innovation and obstructing investment decisions.”
• The crime of breach of trust exists only in Germany, Japan, and South Korea. It has faced criticism for its broad application scope and abstract requirements, which shrink normal business activities. Germany has wide exemptions, and Japan only punishes cases where intent is proven.
• Park Sang-in (Seoul National University professor) explained, “In the U.S., if an act equivalent to breach of trust occurs, strong sanctions can be imposed through civil litigation, but in Korea, since civil remedies are difficult, the crime has been handled through criminal and administrative measures.”
• Supplementary legislation is also needed. The Democratic Party is reviewing plans to introduce a discovery system and expand class-action lawsuits.
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Corporate Chiefs Face Fewer Punishments.

• Two options existed. First, retain breach of trust while limiting its application to cases lacking reasonable judgment. Second, abolish the crime entirely.
• Who benefits? The Korean Bar Association issued a statement: “Without breach of trust, conglomerate leaders could pursue private gains without punishment, leaving companies and stakeholders to bear the consequences.”
• Participatory Democracy also argued, “Breach of trust is the last safeguard against profit misappropriation by leaders and executives,” adding, “Its abolition sacrifices investor and public trust in the national economy for the benefit of minority controlling shareholders.”
• Related Link.

The Reversal of Offense and Defense.

• The abolition of breach of trust was originally proposed by the People Power Party and opposed by the Democratic Party.
• Kim Do-eup (People Power Party Policy Committee Chairman) criticized, “The Democratic Party’s insistence on abolishing criminal breach of trust is a trick to ‘save Lee Jae-myung.’”
• If breach of trust is abolished, Lee Jae-myung’s Daejang-dong trial would indeed disappear. His trial on charges including breach of trust, currently suspended, would result in a dismissal ruling.
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Deep Dive.

Ssangyong Workers Shake Off Damages Bombshell.

• KG Mobility (formerly Ssangyong Motor) decided not to enforce 4 billion won in damages claims against striking workers.
• After the 2009 layoffs and 77-day strike, a 15 billion won damages lawsuit was filed, and in 2015, the court finalized a ruling ordering 2.1 billion won in compensation. Including delayed damages, the total grew to 4 billion won.

Has the Consumer Voucher’s Effect Worn Off?

• August retail sales fell 2.4% from July, reversing a 2.7% increase the previous month.
• A rebound is likely in September due to the second round of consumer voucher effects.

Trump’s Ultimatum to Hamas.

• Demanding disarmament and hostage release, he warned of full support for Israel’s elimination of Hamas if unmet.
• Holding a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister) at the White House, he claimed, “This is a historic day for peace.”

Another Take.

“Money Moves Direction, Tax Fairness Is Principle.”.

• Jin Sung-jun (Democratic Party lawmaker) faced backlash for proposing to ease the major shareholder threshold for stock transfer taxes. Lowering the threshold would expand the taxable base.
• The criticism was reportedly fiercer than when he opposed abolishing the financial investment income tax.
• In reality, the financial investment tax affects a larger tax base and revenue scale. Jin maintains that the financial investment tax should not be abandoned. He views the stock transfer tax controversy as a consequence of abandoning the financial investment tax.
• Jin emphasized, “Politics needs more courage.” He argued that the government must explain fiscal conditions and persuade the public that this level of taxation is manageable. He criticized as irresponsible those who condemn pension reforms while ignoring revenue-expenditure issues.
• He disagreed with claims that “the Democratic Party has become a middle-class Seoul party, not one for the socially vulnerable.” While acknowledging past criticism of being “a pseudo-progressivism tolerated by the Maru-Yong-Seong faction,” he stressed that the current priority is restoring economic growth momentum.
• “No previous administration has presented economic and industrial strategies with such clarity,” he asserted. Referencing Lee Jae-myung’s signature speed and balancing act, he noted that the National Assembly now needs multitasking capabilities at that level.
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“Harder, Rougher, Scarier, Stronger.”.

• Words Trump spoke to assembled troops. Over 800 stars gathered at the Marine Corps Base Quantico.
• Pete Hegseth (U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy) declared, “The Department of Defense is no longer a ‘Defense’ department but a ‘War’ department.”
• He emphasized, “Today is another Liberation Day” and “We are Warriors.”
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Kim Keon-hee’s Shadow Looms.

• An Hye-ri (JoongAng Ilbo editorial writer) used this phrase to describe Kim Hyun-ji (Director-General of the Presidential Office).
• Despite rumors of her being a de facto power player—so influential that the term “omniscient” surfaced—critics accuse the administration of rotating her positions to avoid summoning her for a state audit. Questions arose: “What is there to hide?”
• When Lee Jae-myung was Democratic Party leader, he was caught on camera sending a message that read, “It’s war.” The dominant assessment is that Kim is a key aide to Lee. The narrative goes: “Isn’t this about minimizing public scrutiny while exerting backdoor influence?”
• The Dong-A Ilbo assessed, “She has become the closest aide to the president.”
• Woo Sang-ho (Presidential Office Senior Secretary for Political Affairs) cut short such claims in a Hankyoreh interview: “Does it make sense to reshuffle five or six people just for one person?” He insisted, “100% attendance.”
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“North Korea Among Three States Capable of Striking the U.S.”.

• These were the words of Chung Dong-young (Unification Minister). The three states refer to China, Russia, and North Korea.
• JoongAng Ilbo noted, “While the remark was intended to highlight North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities, it risks implying recognition of Pyongyang as a fully nuclear-armed state.”
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The Fix.

The Warning of the Film ‘No Way Out’.

• Nvidia’s market capitalization is 12 times that of Samsung Electronics. Yet its employment is only a quarter of the level. Since 2023, the Magnificent 7 companies have driven half of the S&P 500’s gains.
• Jeong Nam-gu (Senior Reporter, Hankyoreh Economic and Industrial Affairs) warned, “Once decent jobs are lost, the benefits from national income redistribution policies or systems are nothing but a drop in the bucket.”
• Jeong added, “The time has passed when rising employment rates—driven by short-term and elderly jobs—could mask the severity of the situation,” and proposed, “Labor, management, and government should start dialogue by honestly airing their respective anxieties.”
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Retirement Age Extension to 65 by 2041.

• 2029 will begin a phased extension, adding one year every three years. This is the Democratic Party-led task force’s conclusion.
• The issue is income gaps. National pension eligibility will be delayed to 64 in 2028 and 65 in 2033. By 2029, this means retiring at 61 and waiting until 64 for benefits.
• While the Democratic Party plans to bundle re-employment with the extension, it falls short of labor demands for a 2033 transition to 65.
• The Hankyoreh noted, “Stable public sector jobs may benefit older workers first, risking conflicting interests.”
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ICYMI.

Why Did Eollukso Fail, Despite Claiming “The Value of Writing Can Change the World”?

• Eollukso, which positioned itself as a public discourse platform, launched in September 2021 and went bankrupt in September last year. It was invested in by Lee Jae-woong (founder of Daum Communications) and involved figures such as Jeong Hye-seung (former head of the Blue House Digital Communication Center) and Cheon Gwan-yul (former journalist at Sisa IN). Despite its failure, Eollukso’s experiment holds significant meaning in Korea’s harsh media startup environment.
• Underscore analyzed 350,000 posts and 2.65 million activity logs from approximately 40,000 users over three years.
• After opening in January 2022, Eollukso began paying cash points to users who wrote posts in February. Screenshots of unexpectedly large point rewards flooded in, and prominent writers started gathering on the platform.
• Data shows posts surged in March but sharply declined starting in April. Monthly active users also peaked within a month and quickly dwindled.
• This likely stemmed from dissatisfaction that rewards (points) were either smaller than expected or disproportionately concentrated among a few.
• In November 2022, Eollukso offered a radical condition—guaranteeing at least 1 million won weekly to selected content creators—but by then, the platform had already lost much of its vitality. The attempt to shift focus to professional writers to boost quality failed, as the user-driven content model had collapsed.
• Kang Tae-young (CEO of Underscore) analyzed, “Paradoxically, rewarding content created a gap between the operators’ intentions and users’ expectations.”
• Indeed, 46% of Eollukso-related posts on Naver Blog focused on “side jobs” and “points,” indicating a massive influx of point-seeking users with no interest in public discourse.
• Eollukso’s failure leaves two questions:
• First, while offering “payment for writing” attracts contributors, there must be a strategy for what kind of content to produce from the outset.
• Second, no media can survive without securing an effective readership. The same applies to public discourse experiments. Writers need not only financial rewards but also readers and influence. Eollukso failed to prove its hypothesis that good writing would naturally attract an audience.
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Average Monthly Wage for South Korean Workers: 4.22 Million KRW.

• Seoul leads at 4.76 million KRW, followed by Ulsan at 4.75 million KRW. Jeju recorded the lowest at 3.28 million KRW.
• Real wages for workers declined for the first time in five months—3.62 million KRW, down 3.1% from June.
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Korean Air-Asiana Miles: Frozen for a Decade.

• Boarding miles will convert at a 1:1 ratio, while partner miles at 1:0.82.
• Asiana miles can also be converted to Korean Air miles. Member tiers will apply based on combined mileage totals.

Lee Jae-myung-Ishiba: All Smiles, But Little Substance.

• Ishiba Shigeru (former Japanese Prime Minister) visited Busan for a summit. Though already resigned, hopes were pinned on a final message—but it lacked anything special.
• Lee Jae-myung remarked, “The harder the world becomes, the more important it is for close neighbors to maintain order and exchange,” while Ishiba responded, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we pursued cooperation by seeking common interests?”

Worth Reading.

KakaoTalk Disaster: A Leadership Failure.

• Hong Min-taek (Kakao Chief Product Officer) led the problematic KakaoTalk revamp. Late reflections emerged that separate teams used different work messengers, blocked communication with other departments, and thus ignored internal warnings.
• Lee Eun-taek (Digital News Team Leader at Dong-A Ilbo) sees the core issue as a misunderstanding of the concept of “friend.” Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok can be abandoned if disliked—but KakaoTalk is different. Even if unwanted, it cannot be cut off; contacts cannot be discarded, even if uninteresting.
• “There’s no shortage of people forced to use KakaoTalk for work. They’re just not ‘real friends’ genuinely curious about each other’s well-being,” Lee noted, adding, “A national app used by over 48 million bears the weight of a crown it must endure.”
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MASU Support Law? Collaboration as a Pretext for Submission.

• Lee Eun-ju (Democratic Party lawmaker) proposed the “Act on Promotion and Support of Cooperation in the Shipbuilding Industry.” The so-called MASU (Making American Shipbuilding Great Again) Support Law.
• Na Won-jun (professor at Kyungbuk National University) pointed out, “While it speaks of cooperation on the surface, its actual content is a U.S.-subordination law designed to unilaterally hand over national taxes and state assets to rebuild America’s military industry.”
• “There is no share for the people in the profits, but the losses are entirely their burden. Is it acceptable to unilaterally inject public funds into projects for the U.S.? Are we abandoning even the basic principles of fiscal management in front of America?”
• Related Link.

Two Reasons America Is Acting So Brazenly.

• Seo Ui-dong (editorial director at Kyunghyang Shinmun) analyzes:
• First, revenge is the goal. Because they see Korea as having ruined American manufacturing and stolen jobs from white workers.
• Second, because they can. They might assume Korea will comply even with such unreasonable demands.
• In Seo’s view, Korea is a nation riddled with pro-American masochism.
• Looking into the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), one wonders if Korea is a normal sovereign state. U.S. troops can enter and exit Korea without passports. U.S. military cargo is exempt from customs inspections.
• “Local thugs at least protect residents in exchange for extorted money—but America is doing what even gangsters wouldn’t: taking money while jeopardizing Korea’s security. Then demanding exorbitant sums to cripple Korea’s economy. What’s the point of such an alliance? This is the time to correct the unjust relationship. If Korea misses this chance, it will embark on a path to ruin, losing both security and economy.”
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Time to Discuss the Political Independence of the SIU.

• “Do they really believe that simply renaming it from ‘prosecution’ to something else automatically grants it the ‘goodwill’ to uphold its value?”
• Park Jin-seok (Central Daily Planning and Investigation Bureau Chief) pointed out, “Those who dismantled the prosecution office for violating political neutrality and independence have not uttered a single word about how to guarantee the political neutrality and independence of the investigative agency itself.”
• The countdown to the prosecution’s dismantling has begun. While it is set to be split into the SIU and the Public Prosecution Office by October 2, 2024, can the SIU—subordinated under the Ministry of the Interior—truly remain politically neutral?
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Don’t Use a Butchering Knife to Slaughter a Chicken.

• Lee Jin-soon (professor at Sungkonghoe University) emphasized, “In 2025, we must fight in ways suited to 2025.”
• Even if it’s true that Unification Church members collectively joined the People Power Party, punishing them would be difficult. The same applies to claims that the party should be dissolved.
• Lee pointed out, “Leaving judgment to voters is the natural order” and “outsourcing resolution to the judiciary could provide pretexts for suppressing the opposition, risking a backlash of sympathetic votes.”
• “The wiser path is to trust the people,” he argued.
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