Saturday, April 13, 2024

How UN resolution commemorating 1995's Srebrenica massacre is igniting tensions

By Sergio Cantone & Ljubiša Ivanović

Published on 13/04/2024 -

The strongman of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has increased separatist rhetoric in the region.

A draft UN resolution that declares July 11 "The International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide" will be submitted to the UN Assembly for scrutiny on April 17 and is to be voted by the 193 member states of UN General Assembly on May 2.

Partially modelled on a similar resolution for the Rwandan Tutsi's genocide, the document is being developed by a group of countries including Rwanda, Germany, France, and the USA.

Although the full details of the proposed document are not available yet, it has provoked fierce Serbian reactions, both from the Bosnian Serbs of the Republika Srpska and the authorities in Belgrade.

A Serbian charm offensive in Paris

On April 8 and 9, the Serbian Head of State met his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée, where he signed several contracts with the French arms industry.

Nevertheless, president Vučić didn't receive the support from Paris he expected on his position.

President Macron said "On July 11, 1995 and in the days that followed, one of the worst tragedies in modern history took place in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. France has not forgotten more than 8,000 victims, adults and children, who were killed. With deep emotions, I greet the surviving victims of the genocide and their families and express my sincere condolences"

France is among the countries promoting the Resolution on the Srebrenica massacre.

According to the US state-owned news network Voice of America, the draft resolution condemns "any attempt to deny the genocide in Srebrenica and encourages any effort to bring the perpetrators of this massacre to the international courts".

Milorad Dodik's current rhetoric rejects the idea that in July 1995 the Bosnian Serbian troops, under the command of General Ratko Mladić (condemned by the ICTY Hague court as a war criminal) committed genocide in Srebrenica.

The impression of the international community is that Dodik is using the draft UN resolution as a pretext to carry out his separatist agenda.

In 2005 Dodik declared: "I know perfectly well what happened in Srebrenica. It was genocide. That was established by the court in The Hague. It is an indisputable legal fact".

The Head of the Republika Srpska, Dodik, threatened to announce officially unspecified "special measures" on May 5 if the UNGA will approve the Srebrenica Resolution.

It is not the first time that the "strongman" of Banja Luka has declared he does not agree with the Republika Srpksa being a part of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Belgrade's diplomatic embarrassment

The Serbian foreign minister, Ivica Dačić, said in response that "neither Serbia nor the Republika Srpska are mentioned here (in the resolution) but it says a crime against the Bosnian Muslims, so someone carried it out".

President Dodik has been in conflict with the Bosnian institutions and the High Representative of the International Community for more than two years.

He has opposed the electoral reform proposed by the High Representative, German diplomat Christian Schmidt, saying that Serbia doesn't recognize neither his authority nor that of the Constitutional Court of Sarajevo.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić had no negative reaction to the words of Milorad Dodik, despite saying he officially supports the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Christian Schmidt, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, gave a warning in an interview to Euronews Serbia last week:

"Nobody should put the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia Herzegovina in question. By the way, President Vučić never does. He represents the signatory state of Dayton. This should never be put into question, this is the basis of a peaceful development there".

Apart from Belgrade, Dodik does not have many allies.

Recently he welcomed the nationalist-conservative Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, awarding him the highest order of the Republica Srpska.

He counts Moscow among his allies. Russian state media also buzzed about probable consequences of the resolution, calling it "a Western attempt to eliminate Serbs".

The EU and NATO have deep concerns that the Kremlin has been using the Serbian nationalism as an attempt to destabilise Europe.

Even after the invasion of Ukraine, Milorad Dodik has displayed friendly meetings and a robust political convergence with Russian President Putin, and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lavrov.

Both Serbia and Bosnia are candidates to join the European Union. Serbia started negotiations with the block more than a decade ago. The relations between Serbia and the Union haven't been at their best for two years since President Vučić's administration did not support the sanctions imposed by Brussels on Russia.

The US' warning

The US embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina reacted on Friday to the separatist approach of Milorad Dodik.

"Any attempt to secede from the entity or any other sub-state unit is an anti-Dayton action that will not be tolerated. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not give the entity or any other sub-state unit the right to secede," the embassy tweeted.

Historic Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Being Moved To Make Way For Dam – Analysis

Atsok Monastery in Dragkar county, Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in western China's Qinghai province, in an undated picture. Photo Credit: Citizen journalist, RFA

Atsok Monastery in Dragkar county, Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in western China's Qinghai province, in an undated picture. Photo Credit: Citizen journalist, RFA

April 13, 2024

By RFA

By Pelbar, Tenzin Pema and Gai Tho

Authorities have begun relocating a 19th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery in China that is expected to be submerged under water after the completion of the world’s tallest 3D-printed hydropower dam, two sources from the region told Radio Free Asia.

The expansion of the Yangqu hydropower station on the Yellow River – known as the Machu River among the Tibetans – in Qinghai province was started in 2022 and will be completed later this year.

For the past two years, monks from Atsok Gon Dechen Choekhorling Monastery in Dragkar county, or Xinghai in Chinese, have petitioned authorities to rescind relocation orders issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, a Tibetan source said, insisting on not being identified to protect his safety.

But in April 2023 the government’s Department of National Heritage declared that the artifacts and murals inside the monastery were of “no significant value or importance” and that its relocation would proceed, he said.

Chinese authorities have announced to local residents that they will fund the costs of dismantling and reconstructing the monastery, and performing ceremonies and rituals at the relocated area, the sources said.

However, many of the murals and surrounding stupas cannot be physically moved and so will be destroyed.

Tibetans also believe that the place is sacred: That it has been made holier over 135 years of prayers and practice by generations in the same venue.

Disregard for cultural heritage

The dam’s construction, Tibetans say, is yet another example of Beijing’s disregard for their culture, religion and environment.

Videos obtained by RFA showed a relocation ceremony being held earlier this month outside Atsok Monastery while authorities addressed local residents from a stage flanked by trucks and cranes on both sides.

“The resettlement work could begin with the government’s approval and the support of the local population,” a local Chinese official can be heard saying in one video.

Other footage obtained by RFA show scores of Tibetan residents praying and prostrating themselves on the road and in the fields before stupas near Atsok Monastery in what sources said was their way of “bidding farewell to this ancient monastery that has been their place of devotion for generations of Tibetans.”

The monastery, founded in 1889 and named after its founder Atsok Choktrul Konchog Choedar, is home to more than 160 monks. In 2021, the government issued an order forbidding monks under the age of 18 from enrolling or studying and living in the monastery.

And while authorities have announced that the monks and residents of nearby villages will be relocated to Khokar Naglo, near Palkha township, no alternative housing has been built for the monks, the sources said.

Seizing land

Tibetans often accuse Chinese companies and officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people, sometimes resulting in standoffs that are violently suppressed.

In February, police arrested more than 1,000 Tibetans, including monks, who had been protesting the construction of a dam in Dege county in Sichuan’s Kardze Autonomous Tibetan Prefecture, that would submerge at least six monasteries and force several villages to be moved.

The NDRC said the Yangqu dam will force the relocation of 15,555 people – nearly all ethnic Tibetans – living in 24 towns and villages in three counties — Dragkar, Kawasumdo and Mangra. Dragkar county sits in Tsolho, or Hainan in Chinese, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the historic Amdo region of Tibet.

They warned the head of the monastery and residents that they “will be punished for any disturbance caused,” the sources said.

The Yangqu hydroelectric plant — expected to generate about 5 billion kilowatts of power annually to Henan province — is an expansion of the Yangqu Dam that was first built in 2010 and began operating in 2016 as a 1,200-megawatt hydropower station.

The expanded hydropower dam is expected to be the world’s tallest structure built with 3D printing, as detailed by scientists in the Journal of Tsinghua University.

The first section of the dam, said to be over 150 meters (about 500 feet) tall, is scheduled to become operational this year, and the entire project operational the following year.

Radio Free Asia’s mission is to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press. Content used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

The Expansion Of China's EV Makers Could Threaten The Legacy Of European Automakers

BENZINGA
Upwallstreet
Fri, April 12, 2024

The Italian government stated that it is talks with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), as well as with Chinese automakers, in attempt to get them to bring their manufacturing to the country and boost the national output after years of decline on the automotive front.

At an event in Turin on Wednesday, Italy's sole major automaker, Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA) CEO Carlos Tavares warned that the arrival of Chinese car manufacturing in Italy would force some tough and unpopular decisions for the automaker. This move would likely result in Stellantis losing market share and sales volumes, to which it would have to respond by doing whatever it takes to accelerate its efforts to increase productivity and its competitiveness.

On Thursday, Volkswagen Group (OTC: VWAGY) revealed its plans to invest 2.68 billion to expand its production and innovation hub in China, more precisely in the city of Hefei in Anhui Province, with the aim of increasing the speed of bringing technologies to market by about 30%. In 2022, Volkswagen got dethroned in China by the local BYD Company Limited (OTC: BYDDY) who became the best-selling car brand, giving even Tesla a run for its money. Moreover, BYD even shortly dethroned Tesla as the top EV Maker during the last three months of 2023. As part of its e-offensive, Volkswagen continues to prepare the two EVs it is developing with XPeng Inc (NYSE: XPEV). Meanwhile, the Chinese EV maker, XPeng, continues to expand beyond the overcrowded market in China. XPeng just signed a distributor deal to expand into Honk Kong and Macau. XPeng already made its European entry and did it by launching two EVs in Germany at the end of March. With joined forces, XPeng and Volkswagen have a win-win scenario. Volkswagen gets to strengthen its footing in China and expand its EV portfolio quickly, with both enjoying an improved cost structure and XPeng gaining a European ally as it continues to expand its global footprint.

During the first quarter, Volkswagen Group reported that deliveries rose 3% YoY to 2.10 million vehicles, with China being among the top growth drivers, rising 8%, along with South America and North America that reported growth of 14% and 5%, respectively. But, fully electric models (BEVs) experienced a decline of 3% that was compensated by the 4% rise in deliveries of traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. However, the good news on the EV front is that there was a strong growth of 91% in China, but it that did not fully offset the 24% decline in Europe.

While European automakers face an EV slowdown, Chinese EV makers continue their agressive expansion.

According to market research firm Rho Motion, global EV sales and plug-in hybrids rose 12% YoY in March, but the growth in China and the U.S. were partly offset by Europe’s 9% drop. Although still positive, growth has slowed, and Europe’s EV enthusiasm seems to be on pause. Meanwhile, Chinese EVs keep arriving to Europe’s ports with EV makers like XPeng and BYD expanding to the continent. Other automakers could follow the footsteps of Volkswagen to focus on making friends in China and gaining access to its technology to avoid getting swept by the aggressive push of Chinese EV makers. If the mighty EV pioneer like Tesla had to sacrifice its margins by resorting to slashing prices to boost its competitiveness against BYD, no automaker is safe.

‘I saw the world because of chess. Now I want children to get the same chance’

Susan Namangale was a chess prodigy and one of the game’s leading figures in southern Africa. Now she’s passing on her passion to children in rural Malawi

Xavier Chinyama playing chess (Photo: Charles Pensulo)

By Charles Pensulo

April 13, 2024

Young but thoughtful-looking boys and girls are sitting in a small, basic classroom filled with desks and chessboards in Malawi’s capital.

Under the seemingly uninterested but watchful eye of two assistants, the 10 pupils — mostly in white shirts and black shorts and aged between four and 16 — are busy making moves on the chessboard, playing the after-school game that has become a passion since they enrolled at the Dadaz Academy for Chess in Lilongwe.

At the front of the classroom, Susan Namangale briefly shifts her attention from her computer to look proudly at the learners. She calls two students into the office to chat with them about the rules of chess and their responses are impressive.

“I didn’t have that opportunity when I was young because there was no such thing [as school for chess],” Ms Namangale the founder of the institution and former chess prodigy says. “So now we’re giving kids an opportunity to learn chess.”

Ms Namangale grew up in Malawi’s rural central district of Nkhotakota and was introduced to chess aged nine by her older sister, who was in secondary school. Now a former president for the Chess Association of Malawi and the first female president of the International Chess Federation (Fide) Zone 4.5, the 47-year-old aims to use her personal experience and skills to promote the game from the grassroots all the way to prisons and rural schools where opportunities are hard to come by.

Jennifer Justine, 13, is one of the young people from rural areas who are being mentored by Ms Namangale.

She lives in the same area in which Ms Namangale grew up and the teacher would like to see her following in her footsteps. The pupil said playing chess has helped her to “think fast and start performing well in class”.

She hopes to pass her exams to get into secondary school. “Then [I will] start working and be able to support my parents and others in need,” she explained in a video clip shared on X.

Xavier Chinyama, an eight-year-old in the Second Grade at Dadaz Academy, tells i that chess has helped him to improve in mathematics and do better at school.

Dadaz Academy for Chess in Lilongwe Malawi Image via Writer Charles Pensulo — The Dadaz Academy for Chess in Lilongwe (Photo: Charles Pensulo )

“You have possibilities of becoming smart and it expands your brain to become smarter. Sometimes you can lose but you don’t give up,” he says.

Ms Namangale’s quest to train the next generation of players led to her establishing Dadaz Academy, where around a dozen pupils are studying.

She uses the funds generated from the school to make contact with additional young people in rural areas, like Jennifer. The team also works with young people in juvenile prisons and on the streets.

“Before, people thought chess was for the elite and that you can’t have a kid in the village playing chess but now they are playing,” says Ms Namangale.

She says it is good for the children to visit town and play chess, “because chess is a tool for education”.

Ms Namangale and her team at the academy taking the learners step by step; from learning the chessboard, the pieces and how they move, all the way to different tactics and strategies.

“Chess for me is everything… it made me face the world… it made me confident and believing in myself, it made me resilient and to face problems with solutions, it made me have friends all over the world,” she says.

“I travel a lot because of chess, I go to many tournaments, and I’ve been to all continents in the world not because of my education and my work, no, it’s because of chess. That’s why I keep saying chess can unlock potential – it unlocked mine. I’ve seen the world because of chess, why can’t another child?”

When Ms Namangale’s older sister brought home that chessboard during the holidays, the board was as alien to the young girl as its purpose, but this did not dissuade her sibling from teaching her “one or two moves”.

The chessboard was given to her sister by US Peace Corps volunteers at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School. Although it made little sense to her at that moment, Ms Namangale’s interest in the game grew as the years went by.

“When she returned to school, there was no one to play with until I got selected to Providence Secondary School, an all-girls Catholic school. There was a chess club that I joined, and I have never looked back.”

While they only had two chessboards at school, Ms Namangale and her friends put together their pocket money to buy two more sets, so the club could grow. It was at university, however, that she mastered the skills and became a champion several times over.

Susan Namangale Dadaz Academy for Chess in Lilongwe Malawi Image via Writer Charles Pensulo — Susan Namangale from the Dadaz Academy (Photo: Charles Pensulo)

After leaving school, she continued to dedicate her free time to the game, playing in the first team to travel to neighbouring Zambia in 2005, the first time Malawi had played an international game. Due to work and family demands – she has three sons, who all play chess, with one helping her running the academy – she took a break from playing and pivoted to passing on her passion.

Now an ambassador for The Gift of Chess, a charitable organisation transforming lives through “our universal language of chess”, she has become a face of the game in the country, assisting vulnerable young people on the streets and in prison to transform their lives. The organisation is on a drive to donate one-million chess sets globally by 2030 using “chess as a simple, low-cost, and universally recognised tool to expand opportunity for all”.

“Chess for Freedom”, the motto she says inspires prisoners, means that making a mistake does not mean one has lost the game: “You can make another move and become better and improve your position. So, we use that analogy for prison life, that the guys are in prison because they made a mistake but it doesn’t mean that they are condemned forever.”

CRYPTO CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Crypto trader searched web for 'fraud' before $110 million haul

Eisenberg is accused of commodities fraud, commodities manipulation and wire fraud

Published: April 13, 2024Bloomberg

A trader accused of stealing $110 million from the Mango Markets cryptocurrency exchange searched the web for terms like "elements of fraud" and "statute of limitations market manipulation," evidence presented at his criminal trial showed.

Prosecutors allege Avraham Eisenberg manipulated Mango Markets futures contracts on Oct. 11, 2022 "- when he boosted the price of swaps by 1,300 per cent in 20 minutes "- and then "borrowed" against those inflated contracts using anonymous accounts before fleeing Puerto Rico for Israel.

Before and after his alleged theft, Eisenberg, 28, searched the web for terms like "market manipulation criminal" and "FBI surveillance," as well as information about extradition from Israel, according to documents shown Friday to jurors in New York federal court. He was arrested on Dec. 26, 2022, after flying from Tel Aviv to Puerto Rico.

Eisenberg also had tweeted about the arrest of Glen Point Capital co-founder Neil Phillips on charges of manipulating the foreign-exchange market, documents showed. Phillips was convicted in September.

Prosecutors, who began presenting evidence Tuesday and rested their case Friday, showed jurors Eisenberg's web history to suggest he knew he was breaking the law. Defense attorneys will offer their version of the case Monday, and closing arguments are expected on Tuesday.

Eisenberg is accused of commodities fraud, commodities manipulation and wire fraud. The US alleges he deceptively used two anonymous accounts at Mango Markets to buy and sell himself futures contracts. Those contracts were based on the relative value of Mango's token, known as MNGO, and a stablecoin called USDC.

Prosecutors also showed jurors an Eisenberg chat in which he said MNGO "looks primed for a pump."

Jurors also heard from a Mango Markets investor, Oliver Tonkin, the chief executive officer of BCB Group, a payment service provider for crypto. Tonkin had moved 122,628 USDC stablecoins to the site, and couldn't withdraw them after Eisenberg's actions, he testified.

"Obviously, that puts at risk my funds, if somebody can manipulate that price," Tonkin testified. He said he was able to access his funds about two weeks later.

Mango Markets is run by smart contracts and overseen by a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, that lets people borrow, lend and trade cryptocurrencies. Eisenberg agreed to repay $67 million to the Mango DAO in exchange for it not pursuing any criminal investigation against him, prosecutors say. The DAO's treasury also repaid investors, authorities say.

The criminal case is US v. Eisenberg, 23-cr-00010, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

China has not occupied any Indian land, claims S Jaishankar

However, the external affairs minister said the situation along the Line of Actual Control remains ‘competitive, sensitive and challenging’.

Scroll Staff

Yesterday ·

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. | Olivier Douliery/AFP

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claimed on Friday that China has not occupied any of India’s land, but said that the situation along the Line of Actual Control remains “competitive, sensitive and challenging”, The Indian Express reported.

The Line of Actual Control is the de facto demarcation between Indian and Chinese-held territory.

Jaishankar, during a press meet in Pune, said that India and China earlier never had troops on the Line of Actual Control, and both armies deployed forces away from it on their respective sides.

The minister said that China had brought its troops forward in some locations along the Line of Actual Control in 2020. “In response, we also advanced our units and a standoff ensued,” he said. “After that, the two armies continue to battle for supremacy… But there is no encroachment.”

The minister added: “China has tried to bring its troops to the upper part of the mountainous areas along the LAC [Line of Actual Control] but the Indian Army also responded to it in the same manner.”

However, in January last year, a senior police officer posted in Leh said in a research paper that India has lost access to 26 out of 65 patrolling points in the eastern Ladakh region.

Leh Senior Superintendent of Police PD Nitya had said that Indian securty forces were no longer able to patrol 26 patrolling points located between the Karakoram Pass and the Chumur region in eastern Ladakh – a major flashpoint of border conflicts between India and China.

A report by the United States Department of Defense on October 19 said that China continued to develop large-scale military infrastructure, including an airport, along the Line of Actual control in 2022 despite holding talks with India on resolving border disagreements.

Border tensions between India and China have increased since June 2020 when a major face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Galwan Valley of Ladakh. The clashes, which took place at multiple locations along the Line of Actual Control, had led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing had said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

Tensions had flared at multiple friction points, with both countries stationing tens of thousands of troops backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets. Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the border standoff.

Indonesia denies using air strikes in Papua region, where kidnapped NZ pilot is

A man who is identified as Philip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot who is said to be held hostage by a pro-independence group, sits among the separatist fighters in Indonesia's Papua region, March 6, 2023.

PHOTO: The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB)/Handout via Reuters
PUBLISHED ONAPRIL 12, 2024

JAKARTA — Indonesia's military on Saturday (April 13) denied using air strikes in a remote, restive part of the country, after a video of a New Zealand pilot kidnapped by Papuan rebels featured him saying military actions had made his position unsafe.

An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped the pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, on Feb 7, 2023 after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga.

Nugraha Gumilar, the spokesperson for Indonesia's military, said the rebel group is "always reporting hoax news", after the rebels claimed the military had been dropping bombs onto civilian areas.

Indonesia's military is still trying to save the New Zealand pilot, Gumilar added.

In a video released by TPNPB this week, Mehrtens, who is surrounded by the armed Papua rebels and wearing a dark brown t-shirt and boots, said he is "not safe" following the claimed air strikes.

"Before I was in the safe area, but have been taken again by the Papua military, and it's not so safe for me anymore," he said.

Kogoya of TPNPB, said in a statement that it demanded the Indonesia's military to stop dropping bombs with a helicopter, calling it a "very unbalanced" action.

The rebel group also said it will only release the New Zealand pilot through a negotiation facilitated by the United Nations.

In response to the new development, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said the government is doing everything it can to secure a peaceful resolution and Mehrtens' safe release, including working closely with Indonesian authorities.

A low-level but increasingly deadly battle for independence has been waged in the resource-rich western half of the island of Papua since it was controversially brought under Indonesian control in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.

Indicted Opposition Leader Is South Korea’s Political Winner

Soo-Hyang Choi, Bloomberg News

Lee Jae-myung, center, during a campaign rally in Gimpo on April 6. , Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The victory of South Korea’s main opposition party in parliamentary elections has made its leader a top contender for president in 2027, as long as he can manage a fickle public and stay ahead of a legal battle that could land him in prison before then.

Lee Jae-myung emerged from the election with a strong enough majority for the progressive bloc led by his Democratic Party to dictate the course of legislation and pressure the conservative ruling People Power Party to make concessions if it wants to get anything done.

An advocate of a universal basic income, Lee had proposed while he was on the campaign trail a total 13 trillion won ($9.5 billion) in cash handouts to citizens as a way to revive the economy. His Democratic Party has been looking to increase taxes on wealthy individuals and the chaebol conglomerates that dominate the corporate landscape.

It’s all quite a turnaround for a person who lost the presidential race in 2022 by a razor-thin margin and was then indicted over a variety of bribery and breach of duty charges. This raised questions within his party over whether he was damaging its image, but the victory in the Wednesday election showed he can connect with voters.

“Lee has managed to make the Democratic Party his party and cement his grip on power while embracing the moderates,” said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in South Korea.

Voters’ discontent and the desire to hand down a “verdict” on the government appears to have overshadowed Lee’s own legal problems, Shin said.

Read more: South Korea Parliament Approves Opposition Leader Arrest Warrant

Lee’s Democratic Party bloc expanded its majority with 175 seats, according to the National Election Commission, a major victory that paves the way for the opposition leader to take the driver’s seat and eye another try at the presidency.

A former factory worker who later became a civil rights lawyer, Lee has been in politics for more than 15 years as a member of the progressive camp — becoming governor of Gyeonggi province surrounding Seoul in 2018. He has pushed to make the country Asia’s first to introduce a universal basic income.

He is also one of the most polarizing political figures in the country with a fervent base of supporters on the left and a large block of opponents in the conservative camp. Lee has been clouded by scandals in his personal life and a probe into land speculation in Seongnam, a city where Lee served as mayor. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the legal proceedings against him politically motivated.

Read more: South Korean Party Leader Was Stabbed by Stalker Over Politics

Lee survived a stabbing earlier this year that police said appeared to be politically motivated.

Lee appeared at court just two days after the election, a second appearance in a week, demonstrating the headwinds he will face if he tries again for the presidency.

Entering the courtroom Friday, Lee declined to respond to reporters asking about the possibility of losing his parliamentary seat pending court rulings.

Also getting the spotlight is Cho Kuk, who launched a new party a month before the election that went on to garner 12 seats — the third largest of all parties that competed in this year’s parliamentary vote.

Cho, a justice minister during the administration of Yoon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in, had left office in disgrace. He was charged and later convicted of academic fraud and unlawful interference with a government inspection. The case is now pending appeal at the country’s top court.

Cho may also battle Lee for attention and his party has enough votes in parliament that it could be the difference-maker in steamrolling legislation through the body. How Lee and Cho may cooperate is an open question, but the two left the election with new winds in their sails.

Park Won-ho, a political science professor at Seoul National University, said it might be “about time to accept” that there are as many people who think Lee and Cho should go to jail as there are people who support them as political opposition leaders.

“At least that’s what this week’s vote results are telling us,” Park said.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment