Park Sung-jae’s Warrant Also Denied.

• Following Han Duck-soo (former Prime Minister), the warrant for Park Sung-jae (former Minister of Justice) has also been dismissed. The court cited “insufficient demonstration of the necessity of detention or concerns about flight or evidence tampering.”
• Han Duck-soo faces charges of aiding rebellion, while Park Sung-jae is charged with engaging in critical duties. The special prosecution claims Park materially colluded in the rebellion by instructing preparations such as placing a departure ban team on standby and securing detention space.
• Among State Council attendees, the only ministers detained are Kim Yong-hyun (then-Minister of National Defense) and Lee Sang-min (then-Minister of the Interior and Safety).
• Related Link.

What Matters Now.

550 Missing Persons Reported in Cambodia.

• Safety status remains unconfirmed for over 80 individuals. The rest were either arrested by local police, deported, or returned home.
• The number could be significantly higher than 80. Police have been inactive, citing a lack of investigative authority.
• One police official stated, “Overseas disappearances should be treated as administrative matters, not investigations.” Families of the missing often attempt self-resolutions.
• Related Link.

Overseas Affairs Police Force Cut by Over 1,000.

• Under Yoon Hee-keun (former Police Commissioner), the organizational restructuring left only 49 officers remaining from the original 1,100 overseas affairs personnel.
• International crimes are now handled by multiple departments without a dedicated unit, inevitably pushed to lower priority.

“Bring 10 Bank Accounts, Get 15 Million Won.”.

• Many fell for this trap, only to be detained and forced into labor. Once deemed useless, they were sold or had organs harvested.
• In Sihanoukville, a Korean body is found dead from drug overdose once a month. Police rarely investigate if drugs are the cause.
• Kim Dae-yoon (Vice President of the Cambodian Korean Association) said, “At the embassy, you see young men loitering in shorts and underwear,” adding, “You know they’ve escaped crime compounds.” While expats sometimes help with passport reissuance and flight costs, cases have risen to 10–15 per week.
• A former Cambodian-based police officer remarked, “The most frustrating cases are when victims insist they’re still earning money, not realizing they’re imprisoned.” “Gaslighting—telling them they’re complicit and will be punished—makes them give up on escaping,” the officer explained.
• Related Link.

No Military Operation in Cambodia.

• It’s not possible. This is not the same as the Dawn of Gulf of Aden operation. Somali pirates were encountered in international waters, but troops or police cannot be deployed into Cambodian territory without the government’s permission.
• Calls to reduce the $340 million Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget are also emerging. A development aid expert interviewed by JTBC noted, “Using development assistance as a bargaining chip is beneath South Korea’s standing.”

Online Crime Profits Equal 27% of Cambodia’s GDP.

• Last year, the total reached $12.5 billion.
• The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) reports that a significant portion of these criminal proceeds is laundered and funneled to Cambodia’s ruling elite.

Deep Dive.

Why Beijing Is Targeting Hanwha Ocean.

• Chinese authorities added Hanwha Ocean’s U.S. subsidiaries to a sanctions list. Analysts say Korean firms are now “shrimp getting their shells cracked.” This is effectively pressure aimed at South Korea.
• The Hanwha-Philippine Shipyard, a symbol of the “MARSA” (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again) project, was also included.
• Beijing claims Hanwha Ocean’s U.S. subsidiaries “cooperated with and supported U.S. government activities, harming China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests”—but provided no specifics.
• A shipbuilding industry insider interviewed by JoongAng Ilbo said, “Since Beijing views shipbuilding as a national strategic industry, the stronger Korean companies align with the U.S., the harsher the retaliation could be.”
• The measures follow tit-for-tat port fee disputes: Washington will charge $50 per ton for Chinese-owned or operated vessels entering U.S. ports, while Beijing imposed 400 yuan per ton on U.S. ships—roughly equivalent sums.
• Related Link.
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“Should We All Dig Deeper?”.

• Kim Keon-hee (former first lady) was recorded in a 2021 phone call with an YTN reporter, released to the public.
• When asked about discrepancies in her resume, she retorted, “Are you threatening me right now?” before adding,
• “Should the reporter dig into everything? What if I do the same? Are there no errors in your reporting? Maybe you embellished a resume a little… You can’t frame this as a crime or a moral failing. Fine, I’ll get my revenge. I have no choice.”
• No Jong-myeon (Democratic Party lawmaker) stated, “This was a vow of retaliation, and once in power, it was inevitably acted upon.”
• Related Link.

“The Country Is Going to Ruin.”.

• Lee Jae-myung (President) made these remarks during a State Council meeting while ordering real estate countermeasures.
• “Market disruption through information distortion or the formation of abnormal prices must be stopped at all costs. The game of hot potato will inevitably explode eventually.”
• He emphasized the need for a “money move,” stating, “The entire society’s atmosphere and judgment must shift toward productive finance, and investments should be made rationally with a long-term perspective.”

“Income vs. Real Estate: Not the World’s Worst,” Actually Not True.

• Lee Jae-myung’s State Council remark is factually incorrect.
• Seoul’s income-to-home-price ratio is 27x—meaning it takes 27 years of income to buy a house.
• According to Numbeo, Beijing (37x), Taipei (33x), Kathmandu (32x), and Ho Chi Minh City (31x) all exceed Seoul’s ratio. Many cities surpass Seoul, and South Korea as a whole isn’t the world’s worst—though it remains high.
• The Korea Housing Finance Corporation’s system shows the national average was 5.4x (based on household income) as of May this year. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s housing survey recorded 9.3x.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

The Han River Belt Panic Buying.

• “I’ll send the deposit right away.” Inquiries from buyers are surging ahead of government regulations. Even Bundang, Seongnam—which is rumored to be included in the regulated zones—saw weekly price increases approaching 1%.
• The already-regulated Gangnam Three Districts and Yongsan remain calm.
• Seoul apartment transactions have also spiked since September. After 4,031 deals in July and 4,195 in August, September is expected to surpass 7,000—though final figures are pending.
• Park Won-gap (KB Kookmin Bank Senior Research Fellow) said, “Panic buying by non-homeowners will only subside when there’s a clear signal that affordable housing supply is increasing.”
• Related Link.

Baek Hae-ryong: “I Can’t Work with Prosecutors.”.

• The National Police Agency dispatched Baek Hae-ryong (former chief of Yeongdeungpo Police Station’s criminal investigation division) to the Dongbu District Prosecutors’ Office.
• Baek Hae-ryong stated, “The joint police-prosecutor investigation team is an illegal organization formed through procedurally unlawful means,” adding, “I will not join.” Baek claims the prosecutors are the perpetrators of external pressure.
• Lim Eun-jung (Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office chief) noted, “Chief Superintendent Baek is in the position of a complainant or victim,” adding, “self-investigation raises issues such as fairness concerns.”
• Baek Hae-ryong asserted, “Yoon Guk-kwon (joint investigation team leader) is someone who covered up the drug gate and got promoted,” and claimed, “the joint investigation team is conducting self-investigation.”
• “The remark that ‘an investigation content sufficient for 10 investigators in one month was carried out by a 20-member joint team over four months’ was directed at Lim Eun-jung.” Baek is demanding an independent investigation team. Jung Sung-ho (Minister of Justice) said, “It appears inappropriate.”
• Lee Jae-myung’s remark at the State Council meeting—“public officials exercise their given authority, speak through results, and take responsibility”—and his question, “why do public officials with authority talk so much?” were aimed at Lim Eun-jung and Baek Hae-ryong.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Yoon Seok-yeol: State Subversion Funds via Drug Imports?

• No evidence has yet emerged linking Yoon Seok-yeol to the case. In an editorial, Chosun Ilbo noted, “Only testimonies from suspects claiming customs officers provided favors exist.”
• Baek Hae-ryong (former Yeongdeungpo Police Station criminal investigation division chief) asserted during a National Assembly hearing, “Yoon Seok-yeol and his wife ran a monopoly business importing drugs linked to state subversion funds.” A joint investigation team is already probing the matter, but no new evidence has surfaced. No indications of undue delays in the investigation have been confirmed.
• Chosun Ilbo added, “The president directly instructing a specific investigation to a team—bypassing the justice minister—and even intervening in personnel decisions raises potential legal violations.”
• Related Link.

Another Take.

Two-State Peace Coexistence as Government Policy.

• These are the words of Jeong Dong-young (Unification Minister): “The institutionalization of peaceful coexistence can only occur if the hostile two-state framework North Korea advocates is resolved,” he emphasized.
• Cho Yong-seul (People Power Party spokesperson) insisted, “Jeong Dong-young, who denied the constitution by advocating splitting the North and South, must be immediately dismissed.”
• Dissenting voices also emerge within the Democratic Party. Yoon Hu-deok (Democratic Party lawmaker) stated, “This is a monumental concept—it changes the entire unification framework. Such a shift requires public consent.”
• Related Link.

Cho Hee-dae’s Audit: The Democratic Party’s Strategic Failure.

• If the goal was to humiliate Cho Hee-dae (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), it succeeded. Choi Hyuk-jin (independent lawmaker) even held up a sign reading “Cho Yotomi Hee-dae Yoshi.”
• But the essential questions were never asked, and Cho was handed an excuse to avoid answering.
• First, whether to ensure fair and swift trials in the rebellion case.
• Second, why the ruling on Lee Jae-myung’s Public Officials Election Act case was rushed.
• Park Soo-hyun (Democratic Party chief spokesperson) said, “We saw these two as the core questions, but they weren’t asked calmly,” adding, “Cho Hee-dae dodged answers and only gave a convenient one—denying any meeting with Han Duck-soo (former prime minister).”
• A Democratic Party lawmaker interviewed by Kyunghyang Shinmun remarked, “The shame lies in refusing to speak at all, but the session devolved into chaos, leaving the impression that Cho couldn’t possibly answer in such a circus.”
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Samsung Electronics’ Earnings Surprise.

• Third-quarter revenue was 86 trillion won, with operating profit at 12.1 trillion won—up 8.7% and 31.8% year-on-year.
• Major securities firms’ consensus had expected around 10.2 trillion won, but the results far exceeded estimates.
• Last year’s third quarter was an earnings shock, but the landscape has shifted. DRAM prices, once called the “sore thumb,” have rebounded. Demand is recovering, and prices are strong. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) sales are also rising. The key question is when 6th-gen HBM4 will launch. Though segment-specific results weren’t disclosed, losses in the foundry business—which previously ran into the trillions of won—have significantly narrowed.
• The outlook for next year is also positive, for three reasons.
• First, there are two growth engines: AI-focused HBM and general-purpose DRAM, whose cycles are diverging.
• Second, demand is both substantial and sustained. Growth rates have not slowed for three years, fueling expectations of a supercycle.
• Third, it’s decoupled from consumer markets. It’s like the jeans seller during a gold rush. Even if AI doesn’t immediately generate profits, semiconductors are likely to sell briskly for some time. Plus, globally, interest rates are easing. The liquidity being released is flowing into AI.
• Related Link.

Rolling Back KakaoTalk Is Difficult.

• Complaints about KakaoTalk’s redesign are mounting, but restoring the original version is said to be impossible.
• Woo Young-kyu (Kakao Vice President) testified at the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee hearing, “Reverting to the previous version is impractical.”
• He clarified that suspicions claiming the rollback was blocked due to ads were untrue.
• The friend list will be reinstated on the first tab, which had been redesigned like Instagram.
• Short-form content is likely here to stay.
• Hwang Jung-ah (Democratic Party lawmaker) argued, “Forcing minors to watch short-form videos is not just digital pollution—it’s terror.”
• Related Link.

Industrial Disaster Cases: 561 Days to Indictment on Average.

• Hankyoreh conducted a full review of 138 indictments.
• The highly publicized Arisel fire case took 92 days, but some cases—like the Ssangyong C&E collapse—dragged on for 1,268 days before indictment.
• Shin Hana (Labor Committee Chair, Minbyun) noted, “Prolonged investigations risk distorting or erasing witnesses’ memories, and suspects may destroy or manipulate evidence.”
• Related Link.

“3,000 Years Passed,” Yet “Still a Long Way to Go.”.

• Peace summit for Gaza held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Trump tried to frame it as meaningful, but deep fractures remain.
• Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister) ultimately did not attend, rejecting the idea of a Palestinian state as “establishing a terrorist state next to Israel.”
• The New York Times assessed, “It deliberately ignored potential obstacles ahead.”

Disarming Hamas Is Impossible.

• Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University professor) views the U.S. as an accomplice to the collective punishment of Gaza, having supplied Israel with weapons, financial support, and diplomatic protection.
• The international control system envisioned by Trump is unlikely to be accepted. Khalidi emphasized, “The systemic structures of inequality and discrimination built over generations in Palestine must be dismantled.”
• Related Link.

The Fix.

Government Support for Caregiving Costs: Three Questions.

• First, how will the government secure caregiving personnel when there’s already a shortage? Training foreign long-term care workers is a belated but correct direction.
• Second, how will the budget be secured when the national health insurance fund is already strained? By 2030, the health insurance reserve deficit will grow to 26 trillion won. Can caregiving costs be added on top of this?
• Third, how will integrated nursing-care services and holistic care systems be linked? Kim Sang-ho (Professor, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) emphasized, “Careful design is needed to ensure smooth transitions for patients discharged from nursing hospitals into the integrated care system.”
• Related Link.

Build Apartments in Yongsan Park.

• This is the proposal of Choi Han-soo (Professor, Kyungbuk National University). He believes supply policies are needed that exceed market expectations.
• “It’s not just about filling numbers—it’s about creating psychological shock that makes people delay purchases. That’s the core of supply policies to prevent panic buying.”
• In Korea, real estate was the ladder to the middle class. The government encouraged social mobility through implicit subsidies like low-interest loans and capital gains tax exemptions, resulting in Seoul’s single-tier apartment market.
• Choi Han-soo emphasized two principles are necessary.
• First, consistent tax principles are needed. It’s contradictory to raise holding taxes while cutting inheritance taxes.
• Second, limits must be set on capital gains from ultra-luxury homes. The idea is to reduce demand driven by excessive profit-seeking.
• Related Link.

‘Haedun House’ for Jongga-ro Residents.

• Haedun House, a public rental housing complex built after demolishing Namdaemun’s slum district, bears the name.
• It is the first case of private-led circular redevelopment: constructing rental housing via land donation, completing occupancy, then demolishing.
• The 18-story Haedun House houses 182 households. A 20㎡ unit costs 489,000 won deposit and 145,100 won monthly rent; a 14㎡ unit costs 335,000 won deposit and 99,300 won monthly rent.
• Oh Se-hoon (Seoul Mayor) called it “walking with the vulnerable without forced evictions,” claiming it provides a “stable foundation for life for housing-vulnerable groups.”
• Related Link.

ICYMI.

Baedal Minjok’s €1 Billion Royalty to German HQ.

• Dividends in 2023 were 412.7 billion won, with share buybacks last year at 523.7 billion won.
• Delivery Hero (Germany), which owns 99% of Woowa Brothers (Baedal Minjok), is expected to see royalty payments to its headquarters rise further as the LodRunner system is implemented.

Why the Climate and Energy Policy Division Chief Changed Twice.

• Controversy surrounds the replacement of the chief of the core division at the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment. “Kim Sung-hwan (Minister of Climate) sided with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in the power struggle against the Ministry of Environment,” some suggest.
• The Climate and Energy Policy Division was formed by merging the Ministry of Environment’s Climate Strategy Division and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s Energy Policy Division.
• Under the Yoon administration, the division chief changed from A (a former presidential office dispatch with industry ministry ties) to B (from the environment ministry), then reverted to C (from the industry ministry). “Was it deemed premature to entrust energy affairs to an environment ministry appointee?” critics ask.
• Related Link.

“Kim Hyun-ji Told Lee Hwa-young’s Lawyer to Resign.”.

• Park Sang-yong (professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute), the prosecutor who investigated the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case, said that the lawyer of Lee Hwa-young (former Gyeonggi Province vice governor), who was convicted in the case, made such a statement. It is hearsay and requires verification.
• Seol Ju-wan (lawyer) told Dong-A Ilbo, “After receiving a call from Kim Hyun-ji, I resigned immediately because I didn’t want to be misunderstood.”
• During the trial, Lee Hwa-young’s testimony changed after her lawyer was replaced, sparking controversy.
• The key claim is that Kim Hyun-ji (chief of staff to the presidential office), known as a close aide to Lee Jae-myung, called to demand the lawyer’s resignation—but Lee Hwa-young denies this.
• Kim Yong-min (Democratic Party lawmaker) countered, “Aides can contact each other,” while Joo Jin-woo (People Power Party lawmaker) argued, “If a close associate of a co-defendant pressured the co-defendant’s lawyer to confess and then replace them, that itself is evidence tampering.”
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Worth Reading.

The World Trump and Mmadiani Dream Of.

• First, the 1890s era of William McKinley (former U.S. president), when strong protectionism laid the foundation for America’s early manufacturing industry.
• Second, the “golden age” of the 1950s, when the U.S. rose as the world’s manufacturing superpower.
• Third, the 1980s era of Ronald Reagan (former U.S. president), when massive tax cuts and deregulation ushered in neoliberalism.
• Lee Chang-min (professor at Hanyang University) calls these three eras “completely contradictory visions that cannot coexist.” Protectionism clashes with free markets, and the 1950s “big government” model was exactly what Reagan sought to dismantle. Trump packages these conflicting concepts as a return to a “great America.”
• Zoran Mmadiani (New York City mayoral candidate) envisions the U.S. of the 1940s–1960s, which inherited Franklin Roosevelt’s (former U.S. president) New Deal spirit. High marginal tax rates prevented wealth concentration, strong unions shared the fruits of growth, and massive public investments created the thickest middle class in history. It was a system where basic human needs—housing, healthcare, education—were no longer left to the market but guaranteed as universal rights by the state.
• Related Link.

South Korea Is Not Germany.

• While some cases involve unification, like East and West Germany, others—such as Germany and Austria or the Czech Republic and Slovakia—split and coexisted peacefully.
• Song Du-yul (former professor at the University of Münster, Germany) pointed out, “The Korean Peninsula’s fate—liberated from Japanese colonial rule but divided by great powers, leading to fratricidal tragedy—cannot be equated with the destiny of the two states established on German soil after Nazi Germany’s defeat.”
• “The hasty claim that the North, which sees its struggle against Japanese and American imperialism as the root of its identity, would overnight abandon the concept of ethnicity and adopt an ‘East Germany-style’ ‘two states, two peoples’ stance ignores the differing historical contexts of East German and North Korean socialism’s origins,” the critique argues.
• It is a call to reexamine the norms and ideals of unification in relation to reality.
• Related Link.

The Shock Lies in How They Deceived the Public.

• CCTV footage from the presidential office meeting room on the night of December 3 shows Han Duck-soo reading a document he claimed to have “never seen.” Lee Sang-min, who said he “only glimpsed a paper from afar,” was caught on camera inserting documents into his jacket pocket. Choi Sang-mok (then-Minister of Economy and Finance) insisted he received a “folded note from a staff member,” yet the footage shows him taking and reading a document handed directly by Yoon Suk-yeol.
• The Dong-A Ilbo editorial noted, “These individuals had a duty to block Yoon’s unconstitutional and illegal declaration of martial law,” adding, “The footage raises suspicions that they not only failed to fulfill their responsibilities but may have colluded or aided the act.”
• “Had they possessed the will, there were countless opportunities to reveal the truth of that day to the public. Yet, not a single one did. They scrambled only to minimize and conceal their own culpability. It is staggering that such figures occupied seats in the State Council.”
• The JoongAng Ilbo remarked, “The Bible says Sodom would not have perished if there were just ten righteous men, yet on that day, not one righteous person was present in the State Council.”
• The Kyunghyang Shinmun editorial emphasized, “The special prosecution must reissue an arrest warrant for Han Duck-soo and thoroughly investigate other State Council members’ alleged complicity in insurrection and perjury, punishing them severely.”
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