Page 37 - Election Book-ENG

2017 Presidential Election

It was the Democratic Party’s Moon Jae-In’s election as President
in 2017 that put this goal within reach as he moved quickly to put
loyalists in key parts of the systems, including the judiciary.

Moon was preternaturally soft on North Korea and the People’s
Republic of China (PRC). He even states in his autobiography
that he was euphoric on hearing of America’s defeat in Vietnam.

His close advisors and some of his appointees to key positions
were hard-core radicals.

Just take Lee In-young, the Unification Minister appointed in
July 2020, and read the transcript of his con#rmation hearing in
the National Assembly. Lee is biting his tongue but doesn’t seem
to have changed much since his days as the #2 person in the Anti-
American Youth Association, the underground organization that
provided leadership to Jeondaehyup, the violent, radical 1980’s
student organization based on North Korea’s Juche ideology.

Moon packed the judiciary and tried to bring the prosecutors
under control as well. The head of the intelligence service was
reportedly chummy with North Korea. And the local media were
intimidated as the Moon administration used libel laws (truth
is no defense in South Korea) and threats of tax audits to silence
and even imprison critics, including private citizens. As one
senior US o"cial put it: “Moon took a stiletto to the free press (in
South Korea.)”

!e South Korean military was put on notice with the arrest of

Challenges Facing the South Korean Electoral System - 2024 37