South Korean President's Impeachment Signals End Of Dynasty
SIEGEL: First, what we're really witnessing here is the end of a dynasty. I want you to take us to the beginning. Who is Park Geun-hye, and where did she come from?
OH: She's the first daughter of one of the previous Korean presidents named Park Chung-hee, who was the godfather of the Korean economic miracle. He was a military general who became the very strong Korean president starting in 1963, and he was brutally assassinated by his own handpicked director of the Korean CIA. Before the Park's assassination in 1979, her mother was also killed by pro-North Korean Korean Japanese in 1974.
SIEGEL: So this is the daughter of not just any president of South Korea, but Park Chung-hee was seen as someone who really revolutionized the South Korean economy and helped modernize it.
OH: In a sense, that's correct. In 1963, the World Bank assessment of the Korean GDP - the $65 per head per capita income - it was lower than Somalia. And today, Korea is over 35,000. And Park was revered and respected - at the same time was feared because at the end of his rule, he became a dictator.
SIEGEL: Well, I assume that his daughter Park Geun-hye must have grown up with everyone in the country knowing who she was and that she was the daughter of these two famous victims of assassinations.
OH: Yes, somebody jokes about maybe Korean family, Kennedy family, something like that. But she grew up under their bloody impression, and then she wanted to clean up all those bad reputations of her father and try to rule the government with a clean, honest governance, but she failed it. So in a sense, I feel very tragic about her.
SIEGEL: Yeah. How do you understand her failure in that regard, her failure to avoid corruption in office?
OH: I think psychologically she was wounded, so her scope of trust among her Cabinet members and advisers was very limited.
SIEGEL: And she placed her trust in the wrong people, you're saying.
OH: I think so. I think if she was a much more open communicator and trusting, she maybe avoided all these problems. But she relied on one - this very powerful woman who was peddling the influence to create this problem.
SIEGEL: And when you speak of the mess that this woman - this woman from the Choi family, Choi Soon-sil...
OH: Yes, and this Miss Choi was the one who abused the authoritarian power, collected the bribery, used for her own goods. More than anything else, she's not a civil servant. She's not a Cabinet member. And president gave her full authority to do anything. That's the reason why Park was impeached.
SIEGEL: Is the notion of corruption at the highest levels of the South Korean government shocking to South Koreans? Do they assume this goes on? Do they assume there's lots of money changing hands between politicians and wealthy interests? Or was this considered something that was utterly unforeseen?
OH: This goes a little bit deeper. That's the reason why Park is ending her father's legacy in a bitter way. It means basically President Park, when he made the economic miracle, he began the so-called - the developmental stage planning - means basically government in charge, but private corporations do the work. So when the private business is bringing the money, they get the benefits of tax exemption and all these things. But at the same time, when President Park needed some special projects, they provided the funding.
So in a sense that why Samsung's vice chairman is in prison right now is because he did not bribe it, but when this Miss Choi approached the Samsung - my daughter needs a horse, or my foundation needs money; how much you can give - Samsung maybe didn't think twice. They just gave a huge amount of money. And this is exactly the linkage that has to be severed. And I think since the constitutional court, all of the members - eight unanimously voted against the Park, I think this is the beginning of a new era
edit-----wanna emphasize involvement of Samsung in light of vault 7
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Don-Keyhote ago
Liberal NPR confirms with Korea expert http://www.npr.org/2017/03/10/519703327/south-korean-presidents-impeachment-signals-end-of-dynasty
South Korean President's Impeachment Signals End Of Dynasty
SIEGEL: First, what we're really witnessing here is the end of a dynasty. I want you to take us to the beginning. Who is Park Geun-hye, and where did she come from?
OH: She's the first daughter of one of the previous Korean presidents named Park Chung-hee, who was the godfather of the Korean economic miracle. He was a military general who became the very strong Korean president starting in 1963, and he was brutally assassinated by his own handpicked director of the Korean CIA. Before the Park's assassination in 1979, her mother was also killed by pro-North Korean Korean Japanese in 1974.
SIEGEL: So this is the daughter of not just any president of South Korea, but Park Chung-hee was seen as someone who really revolutionized the South Korean economy and helped modernize it.
OH: In a sense, that's correct. In 1963, the World Bank assessment of the Korean GDP - the $65 per head per capita income - it was lower than Somalia. And today, Korea is over 35,000. And Park was revered and respected - at the same time was feared because at the end of his rule, he became a dictator.
SIEGEL: Well, I assume that his daughter Park Geun-hye must have grown up with everyone in the country knowing who she was and that she was the daughter of these two famous victims of assassinations.
OH: Yes, somebody jokes about maybe Korean family, Kennedy family, something like that. But she grew up under their bloody impression, and then she wanted to clean up all those bad reputations of her father and try to rule the government with a clean, honest governance, but she failed it. So in a sense, I feel very tragic about her.
SIEGEL: Yeah. How do you understand her failure in that regard, her failure to avoid corruption in office?
OH: I think psychologically she was wounded, so her scope of trust among her Cabinet members and advisers was very limited.
SIEGEL: And she placed her trust in the wrong people, you're saying.
OH: I think so. I think if she was a much more open communicator and trusting, she maybe avoided all these problems. But she relied on one - this very powerful woman who was peddling the influence to create this problem.
SIEGEL: And when you speak of the mess that this woman - this woman from the Choi family, Choi Soon-sil...
OH: Yes, and this Miss Choi was the one who abused the authoritarian power, collected the bribery, used for her own goods. More than anything else, she's not a civil servant. She's not a Cabinet member. And president gave her full authority to do anything. That's the reason why Park was impeached.
SIEGEL: Is the notion of corruption at the highest levels of the South Korean government shocking to South Koreans? Do they assume this goes on? Do they assume there's lots of money changing hands between politicians and wealthy interests? Or was this considered something that was utterly unforeseen?
OH: This goes a little bit deeper. That's the reason why Park is ending her father's legacy in a bitter way. It means basically President Park, when he made the economic miracle, he began the so-called - the developmental stage planning - means basically government in charge, but private corporations do the work. So when the private business is bringing the money, they get the benefits of tax exemption and all these things. But at the same time, when President Park needed some special projects, they provided the funding.
So in a sense that why Samsung's vice chairman is in prison right now is because he did not bribe it, but when this Miss Choi approached the Samsung - my daughter needs a horse, or my foundation needs money; how much you can give - Samsung maybe didn't think twice. They just gave a huge amount of money. And this is exactly the linkage that has to be severed. And I think since the constitutional court, all of the members - eight unanimously voted against the Park, I think this is the beginning of a new era
edit-----wanna emphasize involvement of Samsung in light of vault 7