Liberty Korea Party (LKP) Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn yesterday became the latest politician to shave his head to protest South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s appointment of a key political ally as minister of justice, despite allegations of academic fraud and financial crimes surrounding his family.
The controversy surrounding Cho Kuk, a law professor and Moon’s former secretary for civil affairs, has stained the president’s reformist image and caused a slide in his approval ratings.
Amid ceaseless camera clicks, an official from the conservative LKP shaved off Hwang’s hair in front of Seoul’s presidential palace, where Hwang called for Moon to sack Cho as minister.
Photo: AFP
Female lawmakers Park In-sook of the LKP and independent Lee Un-ju also shaved their heads in past weeks calling for Cho’s dismissal.
“This is my warning to President Moon Jae-in: Do not go against the will of the people any further,” said the buzz-cut Hwang, who served as prime minister for former South Korean president Park Geun-hye before she was ousted from office and imprisoned in March 2017 over a corruption scandal.
“This is my ultimatum to Cho Kuk: Step down voluntarily from your post and receive an investigation from prosecutors,” Hwang added, receiving applause from LKP lawmakers, who were planning to protest in front of the Blue House until midnight.
The protest came hours after state prosecutors requested a warrant to formally arrest a relative of Cho, who was detained on Saturday over suspicions of fraud, embezzlement and attempting to destroy evidence linked to his management of a private equity fund financed by Cho’s family.
There are also allegations that Cho’s daughter received special treatment in her admissions to a top university in Seoul and a medical school in Busan, which struck a nerve in a country where teenagers toil in hypercompetitive school environments because graduating from elite universities is seen as crucial to career prospects.
Prosecutors have also indicted Cho’s wife, Chung Kyung-shim, on suspicions of manipulating an award issued to her daughter from a university in the southern city of Yeongju where she works as a professor.
Cho, who for years built an image as a reform-minded anti-elitist, denied legal wrongdoing during an intense 11-hour news conference with reporters and a hearing to lawmakers earlier this month.
Moon appointed Cho as justice minister last week, saying it would set a “bad precedent” if he withdraws a ministerial nominee based on unproven allegations.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to