The Irrational Downfall of Park Geun-hye

[Zeus 7997]

Quite a long read, but it's pretty shocking stuff and a good place to start if the South Korean presidency scandals are new to you. There's so much juicy stuff I'll end up reposting the whole article if I don't cut myself off. I just copied context & some juicy bits.

 

http://askakorean.blogspot.nl/2016/10/the-irrational-downfall-of-park-geun-hye.html

 

Quote

In an ordinary case of political corruption, the politician is in it for himself. At most, the politician is doing it for his family, or other rich people who may end up helping him later. Obviously, corruption is bad. But this type of self-interested corruption at least gives some measure of predictability. We all know what self-interest looks like. Even though we would prefer that our politicians are not corrupt, at least we know how corrupt politicians behave.

 

But not with Park Geun-hye. Her corruption was not self-interested at all. If anything, her corruption was self-sacrificing in favor of Choi Soon-sil. 

 

Quote

Park Geun-hye met Choi Soon-sil through Choi's father, Choi Tae-min. The elder Choi, born in 1912, was a pseudo-Christian cult leader. He started his adult life as a policeman and soldier, and at one point he worked at a small newspaper and a soap factory. By 1970s, Choi was fully engaged in the occupation for which he would be known: being a cult leader, claiming to heal people. Choi called himself a pastor, but he never attended a seminary.

 

Quote

Choi Soon-sil owned Park Geun-hye just as much as her father did. Peddling the presidential influence, Choi extorted tens of millions of dollars from Korea's largest corporations. When they found a small and profitable company, Choi's cronies would straight-up steal it, threatening the owner of the company with the company's destruction and personal harm. More importantly, Choi effectively controlled the presidential power. Every day, Choi would receive a huge stack of policy briefs from the presidential residence to discuss with her inner circle--an illustrious group that included Choi's gigolo (no, really) and a K-pop music video director (I'm serious.) Choi would receive ultra-confidential information detailing secret meetings between South and North Korean military authorities. Choi would receive in advance the budget proposal of more than $150 million for the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and distributed them to her friends' projects. Choi went around saying North Korea would collapse by 2017 according to the spirits that spoke to her, and the Park Geun-hye administration may have set its North Korea policy based on this claim. 

 

Quote

The major breakthrough occurred on October 24, when a cable TV network JTBC discovered a Galaxy Tab belonging to Choi Soon-sil in the office that she abandoned. The tablet was the Pandora's Box--it had the presidential speeches with Choi's markups, presidential briefs for cabinet meetings, appointment information for presidential aides, chat messages with presidential aides, the president's vacation schedule, draft designs for commemorative stamps featuring the president, and much, much more. The discovery of the tablet was worthy of "World's Dumbest Criminals"--the tablet was simply left behind in Choi's office with no encryption, and the files were available for anyone to open. And just in case Choi Soon-sil denied ownership of the tablet, its image gallery contained her selfie. 

 

Quote

Rational people can expect that a corrupt politician may steal money for himself. They can even expect that he may steal for his family. But no one can expect that a corrupt politician would steal money for a daughter of a fucking psychic who claimed to speak with her dead mother. No one, not even the most cynical Korean, expected that the president would refuse to cut ties with Choi Soon-sil, a woman with no discernible talent other than manipulating the president and humiliating her in the process. Koreans may expect that the president would be corrupt, but they never could have expected that the president might be feeble in her mind.

 

There's so much to this I can't even...

[Tokage 5930]

I love some of the weird "fringe" conspiracies that have popped up around this particular scandal too, even though they are totally off the "utter and total bullshit" scale. The stuff about the "8 goddesses/8 fairies" cabal thing for example, the thing about that one boat full of high schoolers that sank in SK a while back being part of a blood sacrifice, etc.

 

Even without that this whole story is just fucking wild though, like what the hell. 2016 truly never stops being amazing

[emmny 4139]

i love this

[Zeus 7997]

1 hour ago, emmny said:

i love this

This makes Donald Trump look rational. He says deplorable things but he's appealing to a very specific crowd and it's working. I don't even know what she's trying to accomplish. It's like Park attained everything people dream of in life and then lost herself.

[anadentone 478]

so basically Sk is as bat shit as nk?

[saishuu 3220]

^ errr, no?

 

I'm living for this scandal right now. For the most part I just find the whole thing hilarious, but on the other hand I feel for Park as it seems CSS (and her father) has been exploiting her using her mother's death since the beginning; makes me feel like Park is incredibly immature emotionally. Still, none of this justifies all the things that seem to have gone down during the government. Honestly I'm just hoping we get a good documentary out of this.

Edited October 31, 2016 by saishuu

[suji 8317]

Choi Soon-sil was arrested on Monday

[Zeus 7997]

Holy shit 9% approval ratings?

[anadentone 478]

On 10/31/2016 at 7:17 PM, saishuu said:

^ errr, no?

 

I'm living for this scandal right now. For the most part I just find the whole thing hilarious, but on the other hand I feel for Park as it seems CSS (and her father) has been exploiting her using her mother's death since the beginning; makes me feel like Park is incredibly immature emotionally. Still, none of this justifies all the things that seem to have gone down during the government. Honestly I'm just hoping we get a good documentary out of this.

I mean their Politician are basically shitty 3 year olds  

[Benio 3]

her approval ratings have dropped to 5%, hundreds of thousands rallied on 11/12 to demand her resignation, and prosecutors questioned this to management of Samsung, Hyundai

[Benio 3]

investigation to Park Geun-hye will start on 11/16

[Zeus 7997]

Park geun-hye faces allegations of using government money to buy viagra

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/south-korean-leader-defends-purchase-of-360-viagra-pills-1.3172800
 

Quote

While the report has created a frenzy on the internet, Park's office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presidential aides and employees on Park's May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are 1 to 2 kilometres (0.6 to 1.2 miles) above sea level.

 

The pills weren't used, said Jung Youn-kuk, a Blue House spokesman. South Korean doctors sometimes prescribe Viagra-style drugs to climbers because they are believed to be effective in preventing altitude sickness.

 

The presidential office also purchased a variety of injection drugs used for fatigue and anti-aging treatment, according to the office of lawmaker Kim Sanghee. Park's spokesman explained that the presidential office purchases drugs for the president's entire staff including security officers.

 

 

I think it's amazing she still has a job...

[Chi 2624]

Incredible and fucked up shit here

http://askakorean.blogspot.com.br/2016/12/the-ultimate-choi-soon-sil-gate.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

[ghost 2687]

So it's finally happening. Park Geun-hye is being impeached.

http://time.com/4596318/south-korea-president-impeachment-park-geun-hye-corruption-choi-soon-sil-protests/

 

 

[shiroihana 182]

Kind of funny story, kind of chilling to me. Very strange that the president of South Korea could allow herself to be manipulated by a man claiming to be a psychic, but given the circumstances it makes a little bit of sense. Elder choi used Park's mother's death as a sick ploy to manipulate her feelings and gain her trust. She believed in him and found solice in him as her spiritual guide. 

 

But the fact that this was all discovered only because Choi was clumsy enough to leave her galaxy tablet sitting on a desk  unencrypted in an office is just asnine. This would make a wonderful documentary. I will be sharing this story lol

 

Oh and there's this part:

 In a Wikileaks cable from 2007 when Park Geun-hye first ran for president, the U.S. Ambassador for Korea noted: "Rumors are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Park's body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result."

That was from 2007 too, crazy...

[Zeus 7997]

Park has been ousted.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2017/03/251_225429.html

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

 

this thread

[Zeus 7997]

If you thought this story was over, think again:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/koreas-park-took-money-spy-agency-reports-042944488.html

 

Seoul (AFP) - Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye was charged Thursday with accepting millions of dollars worth of bribes from the state spy agency, news reports said.

Park allegedly received between 50 and 200 million won (now $47,000 to $188,000) from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) every month from early 2013 -- soon after her swearing-in -- until mid-2016, prosecutors told South Korean media.

The cash -- said to total 3.65 billion won ($3.4 million) -- was reportedly delivered by NIS agents to Park's aides in uncrowded parking lots or in back alleys near the presidential Blue House.

The money came from the spy agency's "blind budget" -- millions of dollars of special funds that can be spent without receipts for anti-espionage activities -- Yonhap news agency said.

[nekkichi 6043]

m-muh deep state

 

 

oballary payrolled 'em

[Triangle 345]

Oh my god this was all over the news last year in Japan. I had a Korean flatmate and we were watching this documentary made by Japanese people on this situation and it literally looked like a well made political drama. We spent the entire day watching it and looking up the internet for articles and she would tell me inside scoops from Korea XD.

Also when I went to Korea in February there was a protest going on there. Unfortunately none of the people I went with was any good at Korean to understand exactly what was happening but, I what I remember was this choir where every person was tied around their eyes with these black bands and they were singing and it literally made us cry even though we could pick up 2 or 3 words from the lyrics.