President Park Named Conspirator In More Crimes

Cha Eun-taek and Song Seong-gak were indicted today on charges of attempted coercion, coercion, abuse of power, embezzlement and influence peddling.

Cha Eun-taek worked closely with Choi Soon-sil, ex-Presidential Secretary Ahn Jong-bom to try to control the sports and culture industries.

President Park is alleged to have conspired to coerced Korea Telecom into giving millions of dollars in advertising to companies owned by Cha Eun-taek. She also ordered KT to employ two acquaintances of Choi Soon-sil. Then, she ordered KT to change the two employees positions, so that they could be in charge of advertising.

President Park is also accused of conspiring in the attempted take over of Poreka (an advertising company recently sold by POSCO under suspicious circumstances). She is supposed to have ordered to her aide to make sure that no big business groups won the bid to purchase Poreka, in an attempt to have a Cha Eun-taek company win the bid. It failed and another company won the bid. So, they tried to take over that company.

Song Seong-gak is the former head of the Korea Creative Content Agency and is accused of threatening to close down the new owner of Poreka, if the new owner did not sell 80% of the shares to Cha Eun-tae. The phone call was recorded by the new owner.

Korea Times: Prosecutors label President Park 'incompetent' 

Korea Herald: Cha Eun-taek Faces Multiple Charges

Korea Times: More accusations made against President 

5th Week of Anti-Park Protests In Seoul

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators braved freezing temperatures and rain to demand that President Park step down.

The protests started at 1 pm. and should last well past midnight. Even though it rained from early afternoon and forecasts called for more intermittent rain, over 1.5 million are expected to participate in Seoul and 500,000 in other cities.

Seoul Metro Government asked buildings to open their restrooms, set up outdoor toilets, increased subway trains and buses in preparation for the demonstrations.

Around 6 pm 

Sejong Cultural Center at 8 pm

Kwangwha Mun at 9 pm

Several blocks away at Jongro 2nd Street around 10 pm

The demonstrations were spread out over several square kilometers with many people marching up and down the streets. In addition to several big stages for performers and speeches in Kwangwha Mun and Seoul City Hall, there were also several smaller stages along the side streets.  

The organizers estimated 1.5 million attended throughout the day in Seoul and another 400,000 in other cities. Turnout was lower than expected due to snow and rain in the early afternoon and freezing temperatures.  

The Korea Herald: 1.9 million take to streets (Great pictures from 1 pm to 10:30 pm)

US State Department Slams President Park's Push For Standardized History

The ruling party which had the majority in the National Assembly and President Park rammed a measure to standardize Korean History and use only a government approved textbook to teach Korean history. The opposition parties, most professors and teachers were against the move.

Many suspected that Park was trying to change references to her father's presidency to paint a much rosier picture.

Chosun Ilbo: U.S. Rights Report Slams Korea's Official History Textbooks

Korea Times: Like Dictator Father, President Park: No Remorse 

Another Possible Bribery Case Against President Park

About every five years, I think, the Korean Customs Office reviews and awards the licenses for duty free shops in Seoul. After the duty free licenses were awarded to five companies this year, the government announced that it would award more licenses and were accepting applications. The five companies that were previously awarded licenses strongly complained about the added competition considering most of the new duty free shops were operation at a loss.

Prosecutors have found it suspicious that President Park met with the Chairmen of Lotte and SKT, both of which had lost duty free licenses this year. Lotte won a license for their main shop in the center of Seoul, but lost the license for their other shop at Lotte World. SKT had lost the license for their shop at Walker Hill Hotel.

A few weeks after the meeting, the government announced that more duty free licenses would be issued. Choi Soon-sil and Presidential Secretaries called on Lotte and SKT and requested that several million dollars in donations be made to two sports foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil through board members appointed by her.

SKT said that they could not donate any more money. Lotte donated 7 billion won, but had it returned the day before a search warrant was carried out at Lotte.

The prosecutors just carried out additional search warrants at Lotte, SKT, Korean Customs Office and the Ministry of Planning and Budget in order to find evidence of influence peddling and the more serious charge of bribery against President Park.

Yesterday, prosecutors found evidence that ex-Senior Secretary for Civil (domestic) Affairs, Woo Byung-woo had received reports on ex-Presidential Secretary Ahn Jong-bom regarding influence peddling and coercion, but ignored them. They are looking into other allegations and many expect that Woo Byung-woo will be arrested soon.


Korea Herald: Prosecution trying to prove Park’s bribery charges

Ruling Party Approval Drops To 12%, President 4%

The Saenuri Party's approval rating has drop by more than half from 35% to 12% and members have finally started to call for President Park's impeachment despite strong opposition from pro-Park members.

At present count, Saenuri Party assemblymen say that over 40 will vote to impeach President Park along with opposition parties which will enable the impeachment measure to pass the assembly. The measure is expected to be voted on in early December.

Over 1.5 million demonstrators in Seoul and 500,000 in other cities are expected to brave freezing temperatures and rain in nationwide protests this Saturday.

Chosun Ilbo: Lawmakers to Vote on Impeaching Park 

The Hankyoreh: President Park May Refuse To Accept Resignations

President Park Approves Independent Counsel To Investigate Her

The National Assembly passed a bill authorizing the formation of an independent counsel to investigate the Choi Soon-sil scandal, what President Park was doing on the day of the Sewol Ferry tragedy and other scandals involving the President.

President Park signed the bill into effect and plans to send it back to the Assembly by this afternoon.

Yonhap News: Park signs bill for independent probe 

Two Rappers Sentenced To Prison For Marijuana In Seoul

More drugs arrests were reported as usual. A two year prison sentence for one rapper
and six months for another because they used marijuana.

People usually get probation, what happened? They probably didn't reveal their source. Anyway, they got suspended sentences, so they don't go to jail.

The one that got a six month suspended sentence was busted for smoking in Thailand in 2015. He must have tested positive in a drug test in Korea and said that he had smoked it in Thailand.

Yonhap News: S. Korean rappers get jail terms for marijuana charges 

Under South Korean law, use of marijuana carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million won ($40,000).