[EDITORIALS]Prosecutors Still Didn't Get It Right

The investigation report on the scandal in selecting a contractor to develop areas around Incheon International Airport is raising more doubts. The prosecutors reported that they have indicted and detained the former chief of the Incheon Airport's development project team and a former Blue House official. The prosecutors again disappointed the people by concluding the investigation without resolving major questions.

The legal issue is one of libel, but the core of the matter is whether there was illegal lobbying surrounding the bidding and whether a relative of an influential figure in the ruling party was involved in the bidding and exercised any illegal pressure. The prosecutors vowed to clear up questions of lobbying and pressure because of those factors.

The prosecutors seemed to doing a good job at first, even skipping holidays to speed the investigation. But the results are disappointing and make us wonder why the prosecutors made such a great fuss. The direction of the prosecutor's investigation must have been wrong if they could not find any answers after all their searching, probing, seizing of documents, checking of phone records and tracing of bank accounts of suspects and family members, which they said was necessary to check for corruption. They did not touch the heart of the case, and gave only an imitation of an investigation.

People still harbor doubts even after the prosecutor's report. This case should not end with the prosecutors' conclusion that the arrested former Blue House official, Kook Jong-ho, was the main influence peddler and intervened in exchange for travel expenses of $2,000. The prosecutors should clarify why Incheon Airport Corporation President Kang Dong-suk insisted on changing the designated contractor after it had been already selected by the bid evaluation panel. They should say whether the Wonik and Airport 72 consortiums lobbied and if there was any other pressure and corruption by Blue House officials and politicians. The prosecutors should bear in mind the lessons of the "Furgate" scandal and the Korea Mint and Treasury strike. Special prosecutors were named because the prosecutors did not discover who committed the crimes.