German far right and far left simultaneously advance, center-right 'tax cuts', Korean media manipulation
In the German general election, the pro-American far right and left wing both made great strides, and the center-right candidate for chancellor, Meritz, was manipulated by the Korean media to implement the economic conservative system of 'tax cuts and growth.'
The New York Times reported on the 23rd that Friedrich Merz, who became the next chancellor of Germany, is “a businessman who has long coveted the top job by flying his own private jet,” and that “Merz took the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union and pushed the party to the right on immigration and other issues, was most comfortable campaigning on the economy, and promised to cut regulations and cut taxes to rekindle economic growth.”
In an assessment of Germany's general election, the New York Times said, "The Trump administration's efforts to influence the vote appear to have had little effect, and Musk appears to have failed to sway voters." "The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party doubled its share of the vote from four years ago by appealing to voters angry about immigration, and came out on top in the former East Germany, ahead of Chancellor Merz's party. But the AfD's share of the vote fell short of its highs in opinion polls a year ago, and instead fell," it said.
The New York Times continued, “The reaction to Musk’s recent attacks and the far-right support of Trump officials may have mobilized a late burst of support for Die Linke, a far-left party that campaigned on a pro-immigrant platform in Germany.” “Two months before the election, Die Linke was dying, and when its most popular member, Sahra Wagenknecht, founded the new BSW party last year, which is more friendly to Russia and harder on immigration, and many followed her as the future, the party split, and Die Linke had only 3%. Now, the far-left party has surged to nearly 9% of the vote and more than 60 seats in the Knesset,” the Times said, explaining that as a result of the backlash against the Musk-Trump regime’s intervention, pro-Russian sentiment has also declined and the far left has resurfaced. “Die Linke has been able to turn things around in just a few months, thanks to a pair of charismatic, social media-savvy new leaders and the alienation many young voters feel from the mainstream parties,” the Times said. “Their campaign events have begun to attract young people, and they have become must-see events, as much dance parties as political rallies.”
Germany’s elections saw the highest voter turnout in decades, with the center-right Christian Democratic Union and its sister party, the Christian Social Union, winning the most votes, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second, and the new, pro-Russian BSW party, founded by former Left Party leader Sahra Wagenknecht, fell short of the 5 percent threshold needed to enter the Bundestag.
Support for Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democrats is just over 16 percent, well below the previous election and down from a post-war low of 20.5 percent in 2017, while the Greens, the environmental activists who formed the coalition government, are at around 12 percent, and the far-left party has surged to almost 9 percent of the vote and more than 60 seats in parliament.
“Germany’s mainstream parties are ruling out cooperation with the AfD, which is under surveillance by Germany’s security services on suspicion of extremism but backed by billionaire Elon Musk and other U.S. figures,” Reuters reported on the 24th. “That means Chancellor Merz will have to negotiate a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), which is likely to take months after a bruising campaign that highlighted policy differences.”
Reuters reported that “Chancellor Merz, who has no prior experience in office, will be responsible for the security of Europe’s largest economy, caught between a sick and immigrant society and confrontational America and assertive Russia and China,” and that “my absolute priority is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that it can gradually achieve true independence from the United States,” Merz said on the 23rd, shortly after being elected.
Regarding the emergence of Chancellor Merz, the New York Times said, "He lost to Chancellor Angela Merkel in a power struggle to lead the Christian Democratic Union in the early 2000s, and Merkel served as chancellor for 16 years," and "voters are fed up with Merkel's ill-fated plan to rely more on Russia for natural gas and her decision in 2015 to keep Germany's borders open and start accepting millions of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere."
In the article titled "Germany's Next Chancellor Tries to Return to Cruise Control" on the 11th, with the subtitle "Friedrich Merz, hounded by protesters but seemingly unscathed in the polls, is putting his failed immigration gamble behind him," the New York Times said, "Merz is refocusing his campaign speech on EU rules, federal bureaucracy, work ethic, energy costs and other factors that business leaders are calling Germany's competitive crisis." “A former businessman and long-time conservative, he appears to be cruising towards the prime ministerial post once again,” he said.
In an article from Berlin titled <In the German general election, the "left" also made a breakthrough by focusing on TikTok and expanding support... 1st place in mock vote among those under 18>, the Yomiuri reported on the 24th that <In the German general election on the 23rd, the right wing made a notable advance, and the 'left party' following the trend of the former East German Communist Party also saw a large increase in the vote rate> and <The election strategy utilizing social media resulted in gaining support among young people>.
The Yomiuri continued that <The left party is expected to win 64 seats from 39, and the vote rate jumped from 4.9% in the previous election to 8.8%> and <Not only were the arguments focused on preventing climate change, anti-war and peace, and correcting income inequality easy to understand, but efforts to spread information on TikTok, a video-sharing app with a large user base among young people, were thought to be successful. As the election campaign was coming to an end, he rapidly gained support and diagnosed it as a “victory of the young generation’s talkative election campaign.”
On the 24th, the Chosun Ilbo reported in an article by its Berlin correspondent titled “German general election exit polls show the center-right party in the lead, while the far-right party leaps to second place,” that “the far-right AfD is expected to be excluded from coalition negotiations centered around these established parties. However, AfD co-chair Weidel said, “We are ready to be part of a coalition that will realize the will of the people,” and expressed his will to negotiate with the CDU and CSU.” He revealed the far-right AfD leader’s “coalition negotiations with the CDU,” which other media outlets have not reported.
Yonhap News reported on the 24th under the titles <Germany’s General Election Ruling Party Trial… Moderate Conservatives Sweep, Far-Right Party Enters Mainstream (Comprehensive 3rd Report)> and <Trump’s ‘German General Election Conservative Party Victory’: “A Great Day for Germany and the U.S.”>.
KBS reported on the 24th under the title <Trump’s ‘German General Election Conservative Party Victory’: “A Great Day.”>.
'Money Today' reported on the 24th under the title <Musk’s 2nd Place German Party on the Eve of the Election… Why the ‘Far-Right Surge’?>.
The Berlin correspondent of ‘Chosun’ revealed that the ‘exclusive interview with North Korean prisoners of war’ article was <contacted through the son’s network of several reporters in the (Chosun) editorial department>, and revealed the connection between domestic Chosun reporters and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) sources, and ‘Media Today’ reported on the 22nd with the title <Exclusive interview with North Korean soldiers: Chosun Ilbo reporter: “NIS conspiracy theory not true”>.
Media Today reported that <Correspondent Jeong Cheol-hwan said, “In order to meet the North Korean prisoners of war in person, several reporters in the editorial department with experience in reporting from Ukraine were mobilized. Through their connections in Ukraine, they contacted the Ukrainian government, media, and business people in all directions and asked how to approach the North Korean prisoners of war,” and then stated, “After the article was published, some people even started to talk about a conspiracy theory that the interview was ‘planned by the National Intelligence Service’, but in fact, the entire process was kept secret from the South Korean government.”
Unlike AP, Reuters, and NYT, where ‘reporters stationed in Europe’ wrote articles about the Ukraine war and contacted military authorities, the Berlin correspondent of ‘Chosun’ revealed that the exclusive interview with ‘the enemy prisoner theory’ was ‘made possible by relying on sources from Chosun’s domestic editorial bureau reporters’, and used this as the basis for ‘denying the National Intelligence Service conspiracy theory.’
The Media Today article stated that the Chosun Ilbo reported that the “North Korean POWs” referred to the “Republic of Korea,” “South Korean Army,” and “South Korean Soldiers,” and avoided verifying the facts regarding the error that the young North Korean soldier did not use the term “Republic of Korea” at all.
The relevant part is quoted below.
< In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo, Mr. Lee said, “In our People’s Army, being a POW is like being a traitor,” and “I plan to apply for refugee status and go to South Korea.”
The Chosun Ilbo reported that “Mr. Lee and Mr. Baek revealed for the first time in their interview that North Korean security agents were monitoring and controlling the North Korean military in Kursk and were fanning hostility by lying that ‘South Korean troops deployed to Ukraine are attacking North Korean troops with drones.’ Mr. Lee said, ‘(The security agents) said that all Ukrainian drone pilots were South Korean soldiers.’”>
The Ukrainian military revealed to AP that the Ukrainian special forces, who were in charge of capturing the ‘North Korean military’ when they received the order to ‘capture two people’ in Russian-occupied territory, ‘communicated in English’ for the first time.
Refer to <Ukrainian special forces ‘communicated in English’ when capturing two people, National Intelligence Service, National Assembly, Press, ‘North Korean military’, February 7, 2025>