How to violate political neutrality

Prosecutors are under fire for rushing to the April 10 parliamentary elections. Kim Sang-min, a senior prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors’ Office, held a public event celebrating the publication of his book at his hometown in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, over the weekend. He pressed ahead with the publishing event despite a warning from Prosecutor General Lee One-seok. His resignation is yet to be accepted.

While serving as a senior prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office last September, Kim sent text messages to residents of his hometown during the Chuseok holiday to indicate his bid in the upcoming election. It was even before he submitted his resignation. At that time, he insisted on his innocence, citing no political motive behind the text message. Given the recent book event, who would believe that?

The prosecutor is not alone. Park Dae-beom, head of the Masan branch of the Changwon High Prosecutors’ Office, was also demoted last month for making “inappropriate” contacts for his political ambition. Lee Sung-yoon, former Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office head now serving as a member of the Institute of Justice, and Shin Sung-shik, another institute member who once headed the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, each held their own book-releasing events in November and December. The two are also suspected to be preparing for their election bid.

The Constitution demands political neutrality from government employees as their service should be committed to the general public. They cannot avoid grave condemnation if they put aside their public duties to follow self-serving political interests. Political bias by senior prosecutors cannot be tolerated as they have the power to investigate, indict and file for arrest warrants for criminal suspects. The Supreme Court allows government employees to run in elections before their resignations are accepted. Still, it cannot be right for prosecutors to violate the code of political neutrality to run in legislative elections while in office.

The prosecution must not take the matter lightly and must reinforce the disciplinary order in the organizational level. The opposition party and the public already feel that the country is being run by prosecutors, as many were already recruited by the prosecutor general-turned-president.

In his New Year’s address, the current prosecutor general reminded us that building trust can be as hard as moving a mountain, and trust can easily be lost from one misstep. Trust must be upheld as the core value of the prosecution no matter what.

If prosecutors lose public confidence due to political activities ahead of the election, damage could go to the general public. A bill restricting prosecutors from running in national elections for a certain period after resignation is gathering dust in the National Assembly. Discussions on the legislation must start fast.