Yoon Seok-yeol’s Obstruction of Official Duties: Seven Years in Prison.

• This is the first final Supreme Court ruling among the eight trials Yoon Seok-yeol (former president) is facing. The first trial sentenced him to five years in prison, which increased to seven years in the second trial, and the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
• At the time, Yoon was a sitting president, but the Supreme Court ruled that he could face criminal charges as the leader of an insurrection. It also deemed the Corruption Investigation Office’s investigation into the insurrection charges lawful.
• First-instance sentences were also handed down to senior presidential security officials who obstructed the arrest warrant execution. Park Jong-jun (former head of the Security Service) received four years, Kim Sung-hoon (former deputy head) five years, and Lee Gwang-woo (former security chief) two years and six months—all immediately detained.
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What Matters Now.

Is Abolishing the Prosecutors’ Supplementary Investigative Power Truly Safe?

• Jeong Seong-ho (Minister of Justice) told Democratic Party lawmakers, “Abolishing the supplementary investigative power without alternatives would burden or harm the Democratic Party.”
• He also stated, “Those without money, power, or ‘connections’ would suffer the most.”
• Prosecutors directly review about 45% of police-referred cases—25,152 out of 55,174 cases between March and April this year.
• The Democratic Party plans to resolve the issue before its national convention. In an editorial, Kyunghyang Shinmun emphasized, “This is the time to recall the adage: ‘Haste makes waste.’”
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No Authority, But the Right to Demand.

• The Democratic Party proposed an amendment, but it’s ambiguous. They abolished supplementary investigative power but created a supplementary investigation request right.
• If prosecutors request supplementary investigation on cases police sent with prosecution recommendations, police must complete it within one month—extendable by another month.
• Kim Han-gyu (Democratic Party lawmaker) said, “By specifying a one-month investigation period after a supplementary request, we believe investigations will become more efficient.”
• Kim Jong-min (MK Partners lawyer) pointed out, “If police refuse to conduct supplementary investigations by citing various reasons, there’s no way to enforce compliance.”
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Most Non-Cheong and Pro-Myung Shift to Pro-Seok.

• According to JoongAng Ilbo’s classification, among the Democratic Party’s 161 lawmakers, 43 are categorized as pro Kim Min-jong, 14 as pro Jeong Cheong-rae, 9 as pro Song Young-gil, and 3 as pro Moon Jae-in.
• Kang Deuk-gu (Democratic Party lawmaker), an icon of the anti-Cheong faction, is now playing a central role in the pro-Seok faction.
• JoongAng Ilbo analyzed that a significant number of non-Cheong and pro-Myung lawmakers are transitioning to “strategic pro-Seok” alignment.
• Pro-Seok: Kang Deuk-gu, Kang Jun-hyun, Kim Ki-pyo, Kim Nam-geun, Kim Nam-hee, Kim Moon-su, Kim Seung-won, Kim Woo-young, Kim Won-i, Kim Yoon, Kim Joon-hyuk, Kim Tae-seon, Kim Hyeon-jeong, Moon Geum-ju, Moon Jin-seok, Park Gyun-taek, Park Beom-gye, Park Seong-jun, Park Jeong, Park Jeong-hyeon, Park Hee-seung, Seo Mi-hwa, Shin Jeong-hoon, Ahn Tae-jun, Ahn Ho-young, Yeom Tae-young, Yoon Jong-goon, Yoon Joon-byung, Lee Geon-tae, Lee Gwang-hee, Lee Yong-woo, Lee Jae-gang, Lee Hae-sik, Jeon Eun-su, Jeon Jin-suk, Jeong Jin-uk, Jo Gye-won, Jo In-cheol, Ju Cheol-hyeon, Chae Hyeon-il, Han Joon-ho, Heo Young, Hwang Myeong-seon, Hwang Jung-ah.
• Pro-Cheong: Kwon Hyang-yeop, Kim Nam-guk, Kim Young-hwan, Moon Dae-rim, Moon Jeong-bok, Park Ji-won, Park Ji-hye, Lee Seong-yoon, Im Oh-kyung, Jo Seung-rae, Choi Gi-sang, Choi Min-hee, Han Min-su.
• Pro-Song: Kim Young-ho, Min Byung-deok, Min Hong-cheol, Park Seon-won, Park Ji-won, Yang Bu-nam, Lee Gae-ho, Jeong Il-yeong, Heo Jong-sik.
• Pro-Myung: Ko Min-jung, Kim Young-bae, Yoon Geon-young.
• Neutral: Kim Young-jin, Kim Ui-gyeom, Kim Tae-nyeon, Maeng Seong-gyu, Park Min-gyu, Baek Seung-ah, Hong Gi-won.

Has Kim Eo-jun Turned His Back?

• Kim Min-seok (Prime Minister) did not attend the December 3 vote to lift martial law. He appeared on “Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory” to explain the situation: “I was exactly one second late. There was a black sedan in front of my house, and avoiding it took time.”
• Kim Eo-jun (CEO of Ddanzi Ilbo) stated, “At the time of the vote, he was already inside the National Assembly,” and released CCTV footage of Kim Min-seok scaling the assembly’s fence.
• Lee Gi-in (Secretary-General of the Reformist Party) analyzed, “If Kim Eo-jun takes sides, it directly affects his revenue. By showing he won’t align with any biased faction, he seems to aim at maintaining his influence as a speaker.”
• Controversy also arose over how Kim Eo-jun obtained the footage. He remarked, “Those raising doubts about the absence should apologize cleanly,” effectively addressing one of Kim Min-seok’s Achilles’ heels.
• A ruling party official met by JoongAng Ilbo said, “Kim Eo-jun should exert influence as a major ruling party speaker, but as Jeong Cheong-rae—his former ally—clashed with the president and faced re-election challenges, it likely became burdensome.” A Democratic Party lawmaker stated, “Kim Eo-jun’s shift was a predictable step. Since Yu Si-min appeared on ‘Ddasebidae,’ he’s been noticeably cautious about making statements that oppose the president.”
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Deep Dive.

Success Means Not Angering Trump.

• This year, NATO members’ goal has been reduced to simply pleasing Trump—a consequence of enduring 18 months of Washington’s reprimands.
• Trump was satisfied. He didn’t mention Greenland at all, barely referenced Iran, and praised members who increased defense spending: “There was tremendous love in that room. We love you, grown men saying that. Isn’t that great?”
• He also navigated tensions with Giorgia Meloni (Italian Prime Minister): “Spain was very bad, but Italy was good, and almost every country was good. There were just some bad moments.”
• Thomas Baláži (Slovakian MP) remarked, “The strategy of flattering Trump to keep the summit moving forward is certainly a terrible approach, but it’s better than any alternative.”
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Erdoğan’s Handgun.

• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkish President) gifted personalized handguns and live ammunition engraved with leaders’ names.
• Leaders from countries with strict gun control left the gifts behind. Keir Starmer (UK Prime Minister) left his at the embassy, while Alexander De Croo (Belgian Prime Minister) handed his to police immediately upon returning home.

Three Key Issues in the Selective Recruitment System.

• It is a system that combines conscription and volunteer recruitment, allowing the selection of technology-intensive non-commissioned officers.
• First, is it an attractive job? The average monthly wage for a sergeant first rank will rise from 2.8 million won this year to around 3 million won next year. Kim Jong-dae (former Justice Party lawmaker) said, “While welfare and treatment are important, the government must address the isolation felt by today’s youth who prefer working in big cities and consider how to honor them as professionals.”
• Second, is shortening mandatory service possible? The Ministry of National Defense stated it is not currently under review.
• Third, is it class-discriminatory? There were also criticisms that poverty might force young people into involuntary recruitment.
• Jeong Han-beom (professor at the Korea National Defense University) emphasized, “The key is not pushing poor youth to physically endure military service but for the government to create opportunities where they can learn and utilize advanced technology to build careers.”
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Another Take.

Paychecks as Gift Certificates?

• An amendment to the Labor Standards Act has been proposed, allowing part of wages—such as performance bonuses—to be paid in regional gift certificates. It was proposed by Park Min-gyu (Democratic Party lawmaker).
• The original Labor Standards Act stipulates that wages must be paid in cash as a principle.
• While the amendment cites regional economic revitalization as its justification, concerns are growing about serious side effects. It could inadvertently disadvantage young workers, migrant laborers, and non-regular workers in small businesses.
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National Debt Reaches 1,345 Trillion Won.

• 127 trillion won added in one year.
• The managed fiscal balance narrowed slightly to a 54 trillion won deficit through May this year, compared to a 68 billion won deficit in 2024.
• The national debt ratio is projected to rise from 54.4% this year to 56.6% next year.

Has the Elderly Poverty Rate Declined?

• It fell to 39.7% last year—the first time it has dropped below 40% since records began.
• The OECD average is 14.8%, with South Korea still firmly in first place.
• The reason? Rather than a reduction in poor seniors, it reflects an increase in affluent elderly. Lee Sam-sik (Hanyang University professor) explained, “It is the result of many impoverished elderly without retirement preparation passing away and being replaced by baby boomers.”
• South Korea’s elderly Gini coefficient is 0.376, higher than the overall population’s 0.331.

The Fix.

‘Resting’ Youth to Receive ‘Participation Income’.

• After reviewing whether to implement basic income or participation income, the decision leaned toward participation income. It is not free—it requires engagement in activities such as working at welfare facilities and keeping elderly company. It will likely be at minimum wage level.
• Seok Jae-eun (Hallym University professor) said, “The policy will only be effective if the content of participation is substantively meaningful for youth’s future jobs or vision, rather than merely forcing them to do something in exchange for income.”
• The youth employment rate fell from 46.4% in the first quarter of last year to 43.9% in the first quarter of this year. The number of ‘resting’ youth decreased from 464,000 to 452,000.

Curbing Excessive Profits at Highway Rest Areas.

• Intermediary operators have been inserted between Korea Expressway Corporation and tenants, skimming off middleman profits. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will establish a public management company to contract directly.
• Tenant businesses currently pay 33% of sales to operators, who then pass 13.9% to the expressway corporation.
• Eliminating intermediaries is expected to reduce tenants’ commission burden to one-fourth of current levels.

A National Liability System for Teacher Lawsuits Is Needed.

• This is the argument of Cheon Ha-ram (Reform Party lawmaker). Even with 100 complaints or reports, only one or two cases result in actual punishment for teachers, yet many suffer severe damage to their reputation and dignity from repeated visits to police stations.
• Cheon Ha-ram said, “Simply establishing procedural safeguards would significantly reduce fear of complaints and lawsuits.”
• The proposal to eliminate free complaints is also intriguing. Cheon Ha-ram said, “Since complaints cost nothing, they are inevitably abused,” adding, “We are considering a paid complaint system where those exceeding a certain annual quota—say, 1,000 complaints—would bear actual costs.”
• Even prisons are plagued by inmate complaints.
• Cheon Ha-ram pointed out, “Inmates treat guards like servants, complaining about food taste or delayed medication, and file complaints if their demands aren’t met. Since unresolved complaints negatively impact performance reviews, guards are completely at the mercy of inmate grievances.”
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ICYMI.

SK Hynix IPO Price Set at $149.

• This translates to 224,672 won. The funding scale is $26.5 billion, or 40 trillion won.
• Yesterday, Hynix’s stock price was 218,600 won, making the ADR slightly more expensive. The ADR is linked to one-tenth of a common share.

Worth Reading.

Abolishing Supplementary Investigative Powers: A Crisis for the Democratic Party.

• Yoon Tae-gon (political columnist) assessed, “Kim Min-seok (former prime minister) has effectively capitulated to Jung Chung-rae (former Democratic Party leader).”
• After Lee Jae-myung and Moon Jae-in’s lunch meeting, Kim Eo-jun and Yoo Si-min are also distancing themselves from Jung Chung-rae. Among the ‘Moon-Cho-Tteol-Rae-Yoo’ faction, only ‘Rae’ is being excluded.
• Yoon Tae-gon pointed out, “The real beginning of the crisis is the Democratic Party reuniting as a ‘single team’ under the pillars of completely abolishing supplementary investigative powers and canceling the presidential indictment.”
• Park Chan-woon (Hanyang University professor) warned, “If failures begin to accumulate after passing strong reform bills, the political burden will inevitably fall on the ruling party.”
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The “Musseubno” Controversy.

• It’s similar to the “Let’s go to Starbucks” controversy, yet different. A member of LE S:EN, Won, faced fierce backlash after using the term “musseubno” on a YouTube broadcast, accused of invoking Ilbe culture.
• Cho Kuk (former leader of the Reform Party) fanned the flames, claiming, “From my observation, Ilbe users mechanically attach ‘no’ after standard Korean.” The implication: it’s not a dialect, even to Busan natives.
• Hong Won-sik (Dongduk Women’s University professor) criticized it as a “crude intrusion” that “completely misunderstands the basic grammar of pop culture.” He added, “It’s time to wake up from the old-timers’ fantasy.”
• “Has scolding the young—‘Why do you lack historical awareness? Why ignore social imperatives?’—ever helped? Trapped in political narratives, failing to read cultural contexts, and nitpicking dialects are extensions of that paternalistic attitude.”
• Jin Jung-kwon (Dongyang University professor) noted, “Once coordinates were pinned, cyber-mobbing by the ‘righteous’ began, along with linguistic theories ‘proving’ that ‘no’ is Ilbe slang.”
• “Will they be satisfied only after sacrificing a young idol on the May 18 altar? This hardly honors the spirits of the May 18 martyrs.”
• Park Byung-ryul (Kyunghyang Shinmun economic editor) argued, “Claiming ‘no’ is just a Gyeongsang dialect is no different from asking, ‘What’s wrong with saying “Let’s go to Starbucks”?’”
• “We focus not on the text ‘Starbucks’ but its context. By that logic, criticizing white people for pulling their eyes at Asians becomes impossible—without the racism context, the act itself isn’t problematic.”
• Park Byung-ryul concluded, “The issue is how hate play becomes culture, and society grows numb to mockery and degradation.”
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