[LETTERS]The judiciary must have more power

According to the Nov. 27 editorial, “May justice prevail,” the judiciary failed to implement its duties. I strongly agree with this. There are still a staggering 224 possible wrongful rulings from past authoritarian rule. As a Korean, I feel very ashamed. The judiciary must resume retrial procedures and exonerate the falsely accused victims.

How can the state compensate nine people who were sentenced to between one and seven years in prison? They simply held a ceremony in memory of the victims of the April 19 and May 18 resistances or read from banned books, but security authorities accused them of forming a communist organization. What kind of compensation will be offered and can it be meaningful to them now?

During the May 18 democratic resistance in 1981, I was in my second year of high school in Gwangju. I experienced the biased political power meant to divide the people although I was too young to distinguish the difference between the truth and a lie. The military government made citizens distrust each other by threatening to imprison them. This was the reason the judiciary lost its justice.

Also, in the more severe Inhyeokdang Incident of 1975, eight people were executed just 20 hours after being charged with treason. Even though the Court acquitted them posthumously last year, I can’t help but think about the victims and their families’ suffering. How can this happen in a constitutional country? It is a shame and a dishonor for our country.

To rectify these kinds of false accusations, the judiciary should reinforce its independence and be free from political power. We can not enjoy freedom until then.

Park Haeng-ran, middle school teacher, Bundang

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