Furor Swirls on 'Rule of Law'

Indignation, partisanship and ideological polarization burst forth Tuesday after the Korea Bar Association adopted a resolution warning that governmentled reforms had brought "regress in the rule of law."

The opposition Grand National Party embraced the resolution, while the ruling Millennium Democratic Party criticized it as the "resistance of old-liners."

"False law and false justice run rampant in the nation," thundered the opposition leader, Lee Hoi-chang.

"The government reforms have proceeded based on law and by lawful procedure," countered the ruling party Chairman, Kim Joong-kwon.

The opposition floor leader, Lee Jae-oh, went so far as to embrace the calls for presidential impeachment made by one of the bar association's members at the Monday night conference. His remarks were later termed "personal" by a party spokesman.

Seo Seok-gu, the association's Taegu chapter head, had suggested that the president is impeachable for having given only pain to the citizenry in the course of his reforms.

"It is not a matter to comment on," presidential spokesman Park Joon-young said at the Blue House. But the Justice Ministry issued a statement expressing "grave concern and regret."

"It is inappropriate that the Korea Bar Association, an entity of public nature dedicated to promoting human rights for citizens and establishing the rule of law, depreciates the government's reform efforts without any given evidence," the ministry's statement read. "Change and reform are tasks of the times, an inevitable part of the process for true rule of law taking root."

The Korea Bar Association largely kept silent about the furor it had caused. Its chairman, Jeong Jae-hun, was inaccessible to the press and public. But another spokesman, Hwang Gye-ryong, 66, reiterated that the group was demanding only that reforms be carried out within the boundaries of law. "We as lawyers cannot remain silent when a 'rule of man' shakes up 'rule of law,'" Mr. Hwang said.

The association's resolution accused the government of hurried legislative actions, referring to some 1,000 pieces of legislation introduced or revised during the Kim Dae-jung administration.

Some analysts expressed concern that the resolution reflects a growing divide among Korean intellectuals in the wake of the government's strong push against national media companies.

"There is a deepening of taking sides among intellectuals and professionals after the tax inquiry into national media companies," a senior ruling party official said.

The bar association, formed in 1952, is regarded as a conservative force, though it opposed political repression of democratic movements during the reign of former President Chun Doo Hwan. In 1987 it moved to bring to the dock police officers charged with torturing Kim Keun-tae, now a senior member of the ruling party. The group also lent legal support to the family of the late Park Jong-chul, who died from water torture while in police custody in 1987.

Civic groups and citizens, on the whole, applauded the general idea behind the association's resolution.

"The resolution rightly reflects the critical public sentiment, triggered by series of policy flops including medical reform," said Ha Seung-chang, secretary-general of Citizens Action Network.

Other activists, however, pointed out that the resolution lacked substantive alternatives.

by Lee Sang-il