Gong TV

On February 16th, a man escaped North Korea by swimming for six hours and came to South Korea. He was caught ten times on closed circuit (CC) TV while coming to South Korea, but the military has missed it eight times. Due to the delay in initial action and reporting, the military could not prevent the man from walking along the eastern front of Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, for more than six hours after arriving at the coast.


The escaped man said that he swam the Haegeum River. "He presumably had swum for about six hours, wearing a padded jacket inside a diving suit and fins. His clothing appeared to have kept him warm and allowed him to stay afloat. The tidal current at that time also helped him come south." an unnamed JCS officer told Yonhap.


Through the investigation, the reason why the North Korean man evaded the South Korean military in the process of defection was revealed as his fear and disbelief in the South Korean military. The man thought he might be sent back to North Korea if he got caught by the army.


Earlier, in November 2019, the government forcibly repatriated two North Korean defectors for being violent criminals, killing 16 sailors of the ship, without conducting any detailed investigation about their charges even though they showed their intention to live in South Korea.


Experts believe that the incident was known to North Korea and affected residents who want to escape North Korea. A North Korean defector who was a high-ranking officer of North Korea said, "There is a possibility that North Korea spread out the event saying, "It is no longer useless to flee to South Korea."



Source:
www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970541785/north-korea-defec…

4 years ago | [YT] | 25

Gong TV

The famous volleyball twin players, Lee Jae-Yeong and her twin sister Lee Da-Yeong of the Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders, in South Korea were accused of school bullying, which was ten years ago.

The 24-year-old sisters have admitted to allegations of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse raised by their former middle school teammate, and their club has suspended them indefinitely. The Korea Volleyball Association (KVA) has also banned them from the national team indefinitely.

This penalty is like a "death sentence" for the twins in the athletic society. They got the public judgment, and the standard of the punishment is the press.

According to Korean criminal law, any crimes committed under the age of 14 cannot be punished regardless of limitations. The twins bullied their teammates when they were teenagers, but they were being accused and punished for their actions when they were minors. The volleyball superstar twins are currently 24 years old.

Based on the law, the period has been passed where their charges can punish the twins. However, some people, including Lee Nak-yon, the leader of the Democratic Party, say the punishment that the twins got is not enough, and they are forcing the twins to get higher costs using the press.

It won't serve justice to let the twins go free of consequences, but it seems quite dangerous to merge them to receive public judgment where there is no such statute of limitations. Public scrutiny may seem to be an effective means to accomplish social justice. However, it has also been proven to lack proper legal standards to ensure fairness.

Source: en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210216004751315

4 years ago | [YT] | 20

Gong TV

According to a U.N. report broadcasted by Reuters, North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles throughout 2020, with about $300 million stolen through cyber hacks.


The report said, “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure.”


Last year, North Korea displayed new short-range, medium-range, submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missile systems at military parades.


The U.N. report also said, “judging by the size of North Korea’s missiles, it is highly likely that a nuclear device could be mounted on to long-range, medium-range and short-range ballistic missiles.”


According to an unidentified country, North Korea had stolen around $316.4 million for the last year.


Reuters reported that the massive cryptocurrency exchange hacking incident the previous year might also be violated by North Korea.


The U.N. report also said that North Korea is secretly cooperating with Iran to develop weapons.


North Korea never seems to “give up” nuclear weapons unless such a miracle happens.


Source: www.reuters.com/article/idUSK...

4 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 14

Gong TV

According to Reuters, a new social media (SNS) ‘Club House’ gains worldwide popularity and is also popular in China.


‘Club House’ was launched in 2020, and you can sign up only after receiving an invitation from a user of the app.


This app became so popular since Elon Musk, Tesla founder, and many other celebrities signed up for this app. The users can have conversations via voice message, but it is not recorded and remained. The way to use this app gives users security and reality, so it became so popular.


The app is also widely spread out in China since the Chinese can also use it if they change their address into the US address in their accounts.


The Chinese government, the ruling communist party, usually bans all western social media apps such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. They censor the local internet to weed out content that could undermine them. But this app has not been blocked and censored by the government.


Many ‘rooms’ for the sensitive topics have appeared in the app that the Chinese cannot discuss freely, like Xinjiang detention camps, Taiwan independence, and Hong Kong’s National Security Law.



Min Pao, the Hong Kong Chinese newspaper, said, “It’s rare to have such a platform where the people from three different regions(China-HK-Taiwan) can exchange their opinions freely and peacefully.”


However, for sure, The Chinese government will soon block the ‘Clubhouse’ with the ‘Great firewall’.




Source:
www.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-clubhous…

4 years ago | [YT] | 21

Gong TV

This week, 161 lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party proposed Lim Seong-Geun's impeachment, a senior judge on the Busan High Court.


For a judge's impeachment to be passed, more than half(151 seats) of all lawmakers should consent to it, and more than six of nine Constitutional Court justices should approve the impeachment.


The South Korean Constitution sets out that most lawmakers (151 seats) should approve the motion, and more than six of the nine Constitutional Court justices should also be in favor of the impeachment.
Until now, no judge has been impeached in South Korea.


According to The Korea Herald, Lim was indicted in March 2019 for wrongfully exerting his influence in 2016 on a libel suit filed by the government against a Japanese journalist who questioned then-President Park Geun-Hye's whereabouts during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. Lim is suspected of pressuring a lower judge to state in the sentencing that a column by Tatsuya Kato of Japan's Sankei Shimbun was groundless. The court later concluded that Kato was not guilty.


Lim was acquitted in the first trial. The first-trial court's ruling mentions unconstitutional behavior but ruled it was just a suggestion or advice. There was no infringement on the jurisdiction of the judge who tried the libel suit.
Despite the trial's conclusion last year in February, the Democratic Party is now pushing for impeachment.


It is customary and part of the due process when proceeding with a public official's impeachment to conduct a Legislative and Judiciary Committee investigation to determine the legality of the impeachment claims. However, the DP is trying to rush the impeachment process and deny Judge Lim from proper due process.


Many have commented and pointed out that the ruling party’s mob actions are to remove vocal critics of the current administration in the judicial branch of the government
Source: www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210201000712

4 years ago | [YT] | 17

Gong TV

The Moon administration is suspected of remittance to North Korea by supporting power plants' construction in North Korea.



Although there were many controversies, the Moon administration compulsorily underwent the Wolsong 1 reactor's closure in 2018, a nuclear power plant that was supposed to be operational until 2022.



Due to the premature decommissioning of Wolsong 1, the prosecutor general Yoon Seok-Yeol started his investigations, but when he found out a sense of crisis among Korea's ruling Democratic Party, the Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae abused her authority and suspended Yoon's investigation.



After settling the qualms with Minister Choo, Yoon released the investigations' findings, which revealed evidence of mass deleting of crucial data, which they were able to restore partially.



Among the deleted data, there were 17 files related to the nuclear power plants of North Korea. The document was titled "pursuing construction of a nuclear plant in North Korea." These documents were made when two times of Inter-Korean summit were held in 2018.


Additionally, President Moon Jae-in also gave the memory stick to North Korean leader Kim Jon-us during their summit. Moon said this memory stick contained information about building and supporting coal power plants rather than nuclear power plants.



About this issue, on Jan 29, Kim Chong-in who the interim leader of South Korea's People Power Party(PPP), said, "The Moon administration sought to build a nuclear reactor in North Korea in complete secrecy. That's a shocking act that benefits the enemy".



The PPP requested an official investigation to be conducted by the government, but the ruling party rejected the request right away.



Suspicions and outrage on the administration's hypocrisy are rising, and the demands for the truth are actively being voiced in the general public.

4 years ago | [YT] | 28

Gong TV

Today, the South Korean Constitutional Court gave its verdict that the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials is constitutional.


The Korean Constitutional Court's ruling provides constitutional grounds for the continuation of the controversial agency's existence. The Court also mentioned that "It is hard to prove the validity of the constitutional challenge the establishment of the CIO… The CIO is an investigative body included within the rights of the executive branch of the government."


The Constitutional Court's appeal to challenge the CIO's legal grounds was made last year when the conservative opposition party claimed that the passing of the CIO act would grant excessive investigative authority that bypasses the due process set forth by the constitution.


However, the Constitutional Court's vindication of the establishment of the CIO clears CIO from further constitutional challenges and will accelerate the CIO's development.


Where do we draw the line for investigative authority? What are your thoughts?

Source: news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20210128000868

4 years ago | [YT] | 11

Gong TV

The Moon administration seems to continue to blame the church with the failure of COVID19 quarantine measures.
Today, 120 people at IEM International School, a Christian Boarding School, were tested positive for COVID19. The government criticized the religious facility by linking it with the previous Shincheonji incident and the BJT(Back to Jerusalem) Center incidents.

The government's oppression and criticism of the church have intensified since last year's 8.15 Gwanghwamun rally. Last year, on August 15th, the rally was led by conservative Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon in Gwanghwamun. The administration blamed the church and Pastor Jeon Kwang-Hoon for the outbreak of COVID19. However, they failed to address the hypocrisy of applying a double standard, allowing KCTU(Korean Confederation of Trade Union Official) protests and mayor Park Won-Soon's funeral. This series of incidents and the application of a double standard caused protests when COVID19 outbreaks were attributed to the church's 'wrongdoings.'

Although group infections are also occurring due to operating illegal entertainment facilities, the government and mainstream media have deliberately turned a blind eye to other sources of COVID19 outbreaks.

The government treated the people who went to the Itaewon club last year with the visitors to the 8.15 Gwanghwamun rally. For the people who visited the club, the present government encouraged them to take a self-testing by making the anonymous free charging test system. In contrast, the government fined the attendees of the assembly if they did not take the test.

While the government is generous with such illegally operated facilities, they are excessively restricting facilities' rights that must be guaranteed by the constitution.

Question: Is this a country that follows the constitutional rule of law? If not what is it?

4 years ago | [YT] | 26

Gong TV

Yesterday, on the 20th, Kang Kyung-Wha, who had served as foreign minister for three years and seven months, was replaced by Chung Eui-Yong, former head of the presidential National Security Office.

Due to the sudden resignation, the reason for the replacement is becoming an issue. Diplomats have observed that it might be due to a warning from North Korean general secretary Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Kim Yeo-Jeong.

At last month's international conference, Minister Kang said, "The challenge from the corona has made 'North Korea, even more, North Korean.'" Kim Yeo-Jeong replied by warning, "It is a presumptuous remark, and we will have to pay for the absurd remarks."

Unfortunately, after Kim Yeo-Jung's remarks, Minister Kang was up on the list of substitutions, making the diplomatic's observations sound more real.

source: english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkor…

4 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 18

Gong TV

Yesterday, on the 18th, President Moon held a “2021 New Year Press Conference” at the Chunchu hall at Cheongwadae.

In the conference, one journalist asked about Moon’s solution to prevent child abuse. “Recently, a 16-month-old child died after being abused by her adoptive parents, which is known as the “Jeongin-i incident.” Do you have a solution to stop this vicious cycle of child abuse?”

When Moon answered this question, he made people so angry and left many wondering how he turned out to be the way that he is considering his background in human rights law.

Moon replied, “It should be possible for the adoptive parents to cancel the adoption or change the adopted child within a certain period after the adoption if they change their minds.”

Moon’s statement sent out a message, revealing his perception of adopted children as mere commodities that come with a refund policy, which further incited outrage.

4 years ago | [YT] | 28