Exclusive Interview with Mr. Hwang Kyo-Ahn on President Moon’s Impeachment and US-Korea Alliance

hello everyone welcome to China Inite this is Sean Le as many of you know last December there's a big drama happening in Korea so on December 3d 2024 President Yong York in Korea announced marshall a law and it last six hours and ended quickly so this drama shock the whole world what's happening in Korea and then on December 14 the opposition that by the Democratic party counter the martial law with the impeachment of President Y so after that Koreans politics enter into a situation and also the society has entered into a big division there are many protest against impeachment and then counter protest supporting impeachment the whole world is watching the situation but many people do not understand what's going on inside the career and what's the relationship between the different political views influencing the decision about this impeachment trial what's the future of Korea politics and what's the future of wellbeing of Korean people many people are concerned about the situation so in today's program we are honored to have an important guest coming to our program and this guest is 교앙 어 처착해 thank you very much so Mr one is a former prime minister Minister of Korea and he served as prime minister from 2015 to 2017 and he was also the acting president after former president Park was impeached and he oversee a peaceful transmission as well and during his tenure he also managed the deployment of S military defense systems and also he handle China economic retaliation after that so he clearly understands the importance of the relationship between Korea China and the United States so we are very honored to have him join today's program mr thank you for joining program um nice to meet you. um thank you for explaining your history so long president no one knows what the conclusion will be only heaven knows but we think impeachment should not happen because impeachment is ultimately destroying the country. In the beginning, there was a lot of talk about impeachment but recently the people are rising up and there are a lot of talks that the impeachment will be dismissed. I think the latter should happen. const is principle and law. The trial should be held according to principle and law but now the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea or the court is a bit distorted. Those things are becoming big variables. However, the people these days are a lot Because it is happening, whether it is the Constitutional Court or the court, it cannot help but fear the will of the people. Yes, so it is gradually converging on a proper conclusion. I think so. I can elaborate a little on what the external factor that you referred here is. As a lawyer, I usually have to know what the conclusion is when a certain situation occurs regarding a legal matter. Since I am a legal expert and have been doing it for a long time, since the constitutional trial is a broad area of ​​law, people like me who have been in the legal profession my whole life should be able to know based on the materials that have come out so far whether this is impeachment or not, whether it is a crime or not, whether it is punishment or not. That is the law. But a law that no one can do in the dark is no longer the law. In the Republic of Korea, when experienced lawyers listened to a case, the conclusion was somewhat better. It was detention or not, guilty or not guilty, and impeachment or not. To some extent, these things had to come out for it to be law. But now, the situation has become unpredictable. As I said, the courts and the Constitutional Court are not just following the law. Of course, the decision to revoke the constitution has many political aspects, but you shouldn't make the decision to revoke the law, ignore the law, and make the decision only politically. That's why it's becoming so polluted. So you mention this external factor and make the results unpredictable. So the external factor is actually coming from global forces actually inside. It's possible. So, if these political forces are greatly influenced by external forces, they will eventually make decisions based on the influence of external forces. For example, in the current situation in South Korea, there are people who are influenced by North Korea and China. Then, their claims and opinions are conveyed to them, and they may reach conclusions that the people do not want. However, even if we cooperate with external forces, for example, if we have a cooperative relationship with an ally like the United States, there won't be much difference between the two. In that regard, since the so-called leftists, or progressive forces, control the National Assembly, the situation is being shaped according to their will. In that case, I think the answer to the question of whether China or North Korea will have any influence is clear and clear. North Korea even intervened in our National Assembly elections. They intervened in the elections. For example, there was an order from North Korea to politically bury Hwang Kyo-hwan by making him lose in this general election. Then, China intervened in Canadian politics, and didn't that become an international issue? So they intervened in Canada, but they did n't intervene in South Korea, which is right next door. That does n't make sense. Considering all these things comprehensively, there was a distortion in the process of South Korea's politics and elections, as I just mentioned. So your primary concern is the interference from North Korea as well as from China. So you can highlight a few key observations regarding how they interfere with the election as well as how they interfere with the current huge division between the two parties. Let me tell you about an example that I experienced. In 2021, our National Intelligence Service announced an incident involving a spy ring. The content was that North Korea's United Front Department, which is an organization that leads operations against South Korea, issued an order to a spy ring in Chungcheongbuk-do in the South. The content was that in this general election, He gave the order to ruin the Liberty Korea Party and blame Hwang Kyo-hwan for it so that Hwang Kyo-hwan would be buried politically. Strangely, after that order, we suffered a crushing defeat in an election that we had never experienced before. An unprecedented crushing defeat, 103 to 180, which is an unimaginable difference. Could this really have nothing to do with North Korea's order? In a way, this is an example of what happened in South Korea not long ago. Even after that, recently, our People Power Party also reported that North Korea gave such an order. In fact, North Korea is very closely involved with us. As I mentioned earlier about China, China has created an international cartel and is manipulating countries like Canada and Australia to create a framework of negativity that it believes in. If the election results turn out the way China wants, it will open the way for it to take control of that country. I'm telling you that there is a process in which election fraud is spreading greatly due to this international cartel. Quick as you mention about your political career was actually ended because of North Korea. Korea or China's interference in election so at a time did you receive any like direct personal strats you know any any people saying you like bomb things like that is anything very serious happen at time The fact that North Korea's threats were passed on to a spy group in Korea was revealed through an investigation by the National Intelligence Service. So as a result of the investigation by the National Intelligence Service, what I explained earlier was officially announced. If you cause the Liberty Korea Party to fail in this general election and blame Hwang Kyo-hwan for it and politically bury Hwang Kyo-hwan, if there is a personal attack from North Korea, I will die. So for example, to prevent that, I am also under guard and my guard is currently guarding me. Also, I was attacked in the back of my neck at a rally. It doesn't seem to be related to China or North Korea. It does n't seem to be, but North Korea could do that at any time. If North Korea had picked me and ordered me to politically bury that person, would the spies who received the order have stayed still? They must have been moving continuously, but they probably couldn't find their opportunity. So you definitely need to enhance your security, so you know coming back to the current situation do you see North Korea or China. Intensified their interference efforts in the career situation what's the overall objective more than society North Korea is a force that started a war 70 years ago. So, the so-called North Korea invaded the South and there was a situation where it seemed like South Korea would really be defeated by North Korea. That was the 625 War. It was n't that long ago. At that time, let's join forces with our fashion and overcome the North Korean invasion and achieve unification by advancing northward. President Syngman Rhee said that and we rushed to North Korea. We went up there. At that time, the Chinese army, the Chinese army at that time, pushed in. They pushed into South Korea with a tremendous amount of patience tactics. So we had to retreat again. This is a really painful history between South Korea, North Korea, and China. We almost unified, but China sent a huge number of troops and prevented unification. There is a painful story about that. My mother was born in North Korea. She was born and raised in North Korea. My parents were the same, and four of my siblings were born in North Korea. Here we are, the youngest two and I. Why did we get hurt? We ca n't live there because of this brutal attack by North Korea. So we've been bleeding. Our Republic of Korea is a country that has experienced this kind of heartbreaking sacrifice and damage. So we can't be careless about this. So basically the importance of the safety of Korea. You know in the face of the North Korea's aggression and now they're also developing you know nuclear weapons. So to come to North Korea's you know aggressions. So the US presence in South Korea island is very important right. So you also deal with the US military defense system. So do you worry about if the political instability in Korea continues that actually would jeadize US investment in you know. Uh South Korea island do you think under President Trump's administration were there any potential. Looking at the current situation between South Korea and the US, it seems like the US has different priorities. First, the issue of Russia and Ukraine, and then the conflict with Europe in terms of economy. I think the most pressing issues for South Korea are still the US government. There are no instructions or directions. We expect that, because of the America First policy, there will be various economic requests from our country. We are preparing for this. However, these things are not happening right now. However, we are preparing for them. These are the difficulties that our country may face right now. I think the ROK-US alliance is a different alliance from other countries . During the 625 War, more than 50,000 US soldiers were killed and wounded, and there were many more casualties. I think there were about 20,000 casualties. We call this our blood alliance. I think it is different from other alliances because it is a blood alliance. And many of those who participated in the war are still alive in the US. I think it is different from other countries. When President Trump became the president, I had a phone call with him. I was the acting president at the time, so he told me several times that he would go with Korea and that I should trust him 100%. That was the ROK-US alliance. I think this is a counter-example that shows that an alliance is not an ordinary alliance but a blood alliance, and in the future, if the United States and our South Korean society cooperate closely, so that there are no conflicts or difficulties, and also, since our country has achieved a certain level of economic growth, I think we may have to play a greater role than we do now. We will deal with this wisely together. So really you mention that President Trump actually calls you directly to highlight the importance of the strong bomb between the United States and Korea, and you know due to the history of fighting against the communists together, so right now. I I see the globally, uh actually we are facing a paradigm shift right, so even Europe now has to build up their own military strengths, right now, and President Trump is also waging tariffs in so many different countries, so under this kind of situation, so uh how will career be even stronger relationship with the United States, you know Many people actually worry that if after Trump settles the Europe issues, settles the Israeli and Hamas issues, and then definitely he pivots to the Indo Pacific, and then he would start to focus on the Korea Taiwan China issue, right, so what do you think will be the future role for South Korea in the in the Pacific area south Korea plays a very important role in countering CCP influence. Korea will soon be in the South China Sea, so I think it would be much better for us to cooperate with it than the US. And emotionally, I think the people of South Korea and those in Asia will be able to cooperate well in attacks. In that sense, I think we can play the role of ambassador. So far, rather than having a deep cooperative relationship with Southeast Asia, most of the time, we have been in a relationship where we received help when we were having a hard time, and then we have been in a relationship where we have been helping a lot since we have been doing well. So, I think this close relationship has been formed in difficult situations, so I think this will be of great help to the US. And regarding the US policy, we have experienced South Korea first. We can help them understand their worries and concerns in Southeast Asia so that they can all live well. I think the US and South Korea should play that role and can do it. So then we have to deal. with China's aggression in the Inter-Pacific area as well being waging like even unrestricted warfil in the United States as well and also they are road initiative globally right so China is trying to be a global leader under's leadership but how we create a deal with China's aggression and we know uh right now for example um the careers uh enterprises invest heavily in in in China and many people feel this is actually a trap and so for career business uh well many of them actually divest from China buse uh we see data seeing the China 's foreign investment drop almost 99% in the last couple of years so using the career business will also take a similar route and then to protect their own Now, as I mentioned earlier, after the deployment of THAAD in Korea, China imposed very strong economic sanctions on Korea. For example, in the case of Lotte Group, they just completely destroyed it. It was just a Chinese branch, but uh the people and the government are cooperating and cooperating so now companies that are having a hard time because of retaliation in Chinese, uh we are helping them in the long term and we are also providing them with uh information about the things they want to do. There were also many deregulations and good experiences like this. Before that, during the Park Geun-hye administration, the president went to China for military operations and military events. President Park Geun-hye tried to keep the relationship going without breaking up, but China, too, had a national vision. To put it in a good way, it was a vision. To put it in a bad way, it was greed. So because of these things, even just a few years or 10 years ago, the situation has changed so much in less than 10 years. And exchanges between China and Korea have been almost cut off. Exchanges between businesspeople are still going on, but exchanges between governments and other extensive exchanges like in the past are very limited. However, my basic thoughts about China were that we should cooperate as much as possible in the economy and that we should protect the liberal democratic system in terms of security. So THAAD falls under this premise and falls under the latter. In this regard, we have no choice but to focus on our national interests. Then, we have to cooperate closely in terms of the economy. So, because of the large population, domestic resources are now abundant. The US and China have also developed a lot, and now they are securing cutting-edge technologies, and there is a lot of talk about AI and such from that side, and in that area, we have to give and receive, and since our capabilities are different, I think we should continue to cooperate in this area in the future. China's market and for the securities you rely on the United States, but if President Trump is not happy about the trade surplus as well not happy about uh South Korea's business tie with China, so if wage more on South Korea's economy what do you think leadership response? We will not unilaterally give and receive what we have to give. I said it in a bad way, but now that our economic situations have changed for both us and South Korea, we should give what we have to give, and also receive what we need, for example, military cooperation, and so on. I think we should do this now. I think we can no longer have an alliance where we unilaterally receive help only from the US. My observation is that the United States under the Trump administration is actually taking a very powerful strategy, so right now, internal document inside the department of state in the United States actually tries to differentiate what is CCP China versus the Chinese people Chinese government so they now even just call the secretary general of the CCP instead of saying he's president of China so basically President Trump did not say we need to totally decouple from China by emphasizing that CCP is the evil actor here is the main rival of the United States do you think South Korea would take similar South Korea also had that experience. We had a state audit, so in 1988, we had a state audit, and at that time, our Prosecutor General's answer was like this. For example, regarding the policy we would have for lending to North Korea, the then Prosecutor General Kim Ki-choon answered like this. The North Korean communist group is our enemy. We have no choice but to fight fiercely against them. However, the North Korean people under the North Korean communist group are not the enemy. They are our citizens of the Republic of Korea. He said that, and I think that was the right answer. I think the current relationship between China and the CCP is the same. Regarding the North Korean communist party and the Chinese communist party, we have to maintain a stance in the camp of free democratic countries, and regarding the North Korean people, we really, as I said earlier. I think we can continue the kind of exchange and cooperation that I mentioned. So you agree on this policy, so actually this is also related to what we observe right now in South Korea right during the protest from both sides and we see many young people now step forward saying that we need to reject all kinds of CCPS interference in the uh South Korean politics or in the society or even you know uh hindering the cultural exchange for example. So do you think this is actually a very important trend that more and more Korean people start waking up to start to see how CCP tries to use all kinds of means to it's kind of unrestricted warfare against Korea and try to create instabilities in South Korean society. So now, there are many people who never thought that China was so deeply involved in South Korea, but now they think that China is interfering in our elections. Well, based on what I experienced and what the fraud prevention team that I lead experienced, I analyze that the Chinese played a role when they came here and changed the fraudulent ballots. That's how I see it, because, for example, election officials are now using the early ballots from the original election. When we received and counted the votes, the names of the election officials who counted them were not surnames that our people use, but names that our people don't use, so we received early voting ballots, saying that the election officials were employees. So, China's intervention, well, I know that it has intervened in many countries other than our country, such as Canada, and I believe that it is already intervening in our country. China is expanding its scope in various areas, and our Republic of Korea has no desire to fight with China, but we cannot be dementia. Our territory was already invaded once during the Confucian War, and we will not let that happen again in the future. However, we cannot do that through fighting and war, so we must have deep dialogue and cooperative relations. We have no intention of infringing on China's national interests, but China must not infringe on our rights and interests. We have no choice but to make a clear declaration. And as I said earlier, regarding security issues, we must have clear dialogue and cooperation with China on areas where we have different opinions, and we must create a cooperative relationship regarding the economy. To do that, the equator must also No, and in some cases, they are not comrades, so I am gathering my wisdom with that in mind. It is a very important observation, right. I also agree with you, and I actually wonder if you know in the future the South Korean society is actually united in terms of the issue of how to deal with CCP. If you know that you look at the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans fight all the time, all kinds of issues, but only one issue they have consensus that the CCP is the top rivals or competitions. It is a different situation from the United States. The history of the Republican Party in the United States and the history of North Korea, China, and South Korea in South Korea are actually very different. Even if there is a conflict between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the United States, it is a problem that can be resolved within that. However, in South Korea, the problem between North Korea, China, and South Korea is a relationship that has experienced a matter of life or death through war. So, I think the framework for selling is completely different. However, despite that, we are pursuing peaceful unification. So we are not thinking of taking over North Korea, but pursuing peaceful unification and making various strategic preparations. In that respect, the United States and South Korea are now There are completely different aspects and also aspects that we should pursue in the same way. I had a meeting with Xi Jinping earlier, and we talked about THAAD on Saturday and Sunday. I said that THAAD is not aimed at China but at North Korea. It is to prevent North Korea's provocations. Xi Jinping said that China is taking this very seriously. We continued to talk like this and then we ended up parting ways. In that respect, the situation between the United States and us is quite different. We have to be prepared and alert. At the same time, as I mentioned earlier, in terms of China, there are many people who actually start to develop some anti-mentality and people actually worry about it in the future. I think there is an aspect that we have maintained. Another important question from the different protest right is that many people of course they are CCP, but at the same time there are many people who actually start to develop some anti- mentality and people actually worry about it in the future. There will be any general discrimination against Chinese immigrants in South Korea because people worry about it. you know uh for example in Indonesia it happened before because of the communist party exporting their political view exporting their ideology so and damaging local business so Indonesia has anti-China like massacre happened in history so do you worry that South Korea has similar risk how do we protect the Chinese immigrants here ccp Chinese The people of South Korea are very strongly against communism. However, as I said earlier about North Korea, there is almost no disagreement that there should be a complete distinction between the North Korean communist party and the North Korean people, residents, and citizens. China is the same. China, too, as I said several times earlier, cannot compromise from a security perspective, but we must cooperate and move forward in terms of the fraternal economy. Ah, so this part will probably be the major direction in the future. It will probably be the standard. Well, there are many concerns now, but I think our government should do its best to ensure that the South Korea-China relationship, especially the exchange and cooperation between the Chinese people and the Chinese people, does not become a hindrance. Right thank you very much uh for accepting this interview and we really appreciate your input and if I summarize so you basically highlight that is a very strong bomb between the United States and South Korea because of the history and as well you have confidence in South Korean people they can differentiate what is the communism versus its own people and you still highlight the importance to maintain relationship with China and why you want to build uh a better relationship with the United States uh so it's my uh summary uh fit into the overall prediction in the future that South Korea will still be a very healthy democratic society and you think this will and still have a bright It was accurate. It was 100% accurate. We talked about difficult topics for so long, but I am very grateful that you organized it well. I hope that your work will be fruitful and in a broad sense, close cooperation between the free Republic of Korea and the free citizens of China and the two-track strategies with China that I mentioned earlier are well- melted so that the Korea-China relationship and the Korea-U.S. relationship can both develop and grow well. [Music]