[EDITORIAL] Do It Right This Time

Public attention is again focused on an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office, this time into alleged contributions of more than 100 billion won by the National Security Planning Agency (now called the National Intelligence Service) to the 1996 general election campaigns of candidates of the New Korea Party, which was in power at the time. By tracing bank accounts, so far the investigation has determined that more than 50 billion made its way from an NSPA slush fund into NKP hands, and prosecutors are now in the process of subpoenaing suspects.

There can be no disputing the handling of irregularities if all suspects are treated equally, the truth found out and the guilty punished. In an incident involving politicians, the public want the investigation conducted correctly and the perpetrators brought to justice regardless of their party affiliation. If the NSPA directed funds into NKP campaigns, whether it was from its own budget or funneled from elsewhere, it violated the law. Those proven guilty must be punished as a warning to society. Some insist that there is more to lose than to gain by making an issue of once-routine practices. We believe it is important to make known exactly what happened in the past even if some of the misdeeds are no longer prosecutable because of the statute of limitations.

The prosecutors must be very careful not to let this investigation be used for political purposes. Some doubt is being cast on the Public Prosecutor's Office because this revelation has come out in final stages of an investigation that has been going on since last October. Some in the opposition party are saying that the timing of the disclosure indicates it is a move to distract people's attention from the criticism on the incident of ruling party lawmakers' defections to the United Liberal Democrats. Since most of those involved are members of the opposition, there is also criticism that it is a move to put the screws on the Grand National Party.

The prosecutors are being put to the test again in the first political incident of the new year. This is a good opportunity for them to regain some credibility by showing that they are politically neutral. At the same time, politicians should refrain from trying to influence the investigation.