New ROK leader plans to reorganize presidential office
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of James Comey from the post of FBI director has sparked a media firestorm and much disagreement.
Trump’s move on Tuesday, which came at a time when the FBI’s investigation into his alleged ties to Russia was expanding, has dominated the news cycle, with some experts calling it unprecedented and downright suspicious.
Indeed, Democrats and center-left media outlets said the timing of Comey’s dismissal is suspect, and are crying foul over what they say is a stunning power move by the new president.
One media commentator, Chris Matthews, even said the move had a whiff of “fascism” to it. And Democrats in Congress are up in arms.
They are demanding the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate the alleged links between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Rus- sia has dismissed the claims as fabrications.
But others are much less outraged, and some noted that Comey’s firing was made on the recommendation of senior Justice Department officials.
Trump said on Wednesday that he fired Comey because he “was not doing a good job”, without elaborating.
Probe over hacking
Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that he cannot get as excited as many Democrats over the issue.
“To me, Comey didn’t know how to handle the public face of the job. The fact that most of his mistakes to date were at (former secretary of state) Hillary (Clinton’s) expense, but most of his sensitive ongoing investigations were potentially at Trump’s, increases the partisan tensions and suspicions over the firing,” he said.
Indeed, Comey was criticized for reopening the probe into Clinton’s email scandal in the final days of November’s presidential race, in a move that many said tipped the tight race in Trump’s favor.
“But I can’t really disagree with Trump — even though I am a Democrat myself — provided that the successor (to Comey) has integrity,” he said.
US intelligence services have concluded that Russia tried to interfere with the elections, as the Kremlin allegedly believed it could do business with Trump as opposed to Clinton. Democrats maintain that Russia’s moves allowed Trump to hijack the election and win the White House.
But many others note that millions of rural US citizens — Trump’s main backers — had been struggling financially for nearly a decade under former president Barack Obama, and viewed Clinton as an extension of the Obama administration. It was promises of a better economy that led to Trump’s win, some experts and observers said.
Meanwhile, the presidential chief of staff said Moon’s office will be reorganized.
Im, the chief of staff, said the reorganization plan was aimed to provide more autonomy to ministries.
Forming a committee, which will actually serve as a presidential transition team, is under consideration, he added.
In order to distance himself from his jailed predecessor Park Geun-hye, Moon plans to partially abandon one of the job’s major perks: The mountainside presidential palace, or the Blue House.
A Gwanghwamun office
Addressing the nation after taking the oath of office on Wednesday, Moon vowed to eventually move out of the palace that dominates downtown Seoul, where every modern ROK president has lived and worked since the end of World War II.
Moon instead plans to commute to an office in the nearby streets of Gwanghwamun, near the square where millions took part in protests for months before Park was removed from office and arrested in March on corruption charges.
“After preparations are finished, I will step out of the Abe urged to face up to history
ROK President Moon Jae-in called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to face up to history during the first telephone conversation between the two leaders on Thursday.
Senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan said the phone conversation lasted for about 25 minutes in the afternoon.
During the conversation, Moon said Japan should face up to history in order not to make historical issues become an obstacle to the two countries going toward the mature and cooperative relations.
The two countries, Moon said, should deal with the issues in earnest. Moon said the majority of people from the Republic of Korea did not accept the agreement on comfort women victims “emotionally,” referring to the Dec 28, 2015 agreement reached “finally and irreversibly” between the two nations.
The comfort women is a euphemism for women who was forced into sexual slavery for Japanese military brothels during World War II.
Blue House and open the era of the Gwanghwamun president,” Moon said in his speech, without offering a specific timeline. “I will be a president willing to communicate with people at any time.”
Moon expects to find a much smaller presidential residence near Gwanghwamun. But he won’t entirely abandon the Blue House. Officials from his presidential camp have told reporters that Moon will continue to use the Blue House’s underground rooms for important national security meetings. He will also continue to use the Blue House’s helicopter pad and also the Yeongbingwan Hall to greet foreign guests, they said.
But Moon plans to open the rest of the Blue House space to the public and convert the remaining buildings into museums or other facilities to draw tourists.