Just individual aberrations? Think again.

Members of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, or Minbyun, who were nominated as Democratic Party (DP) candidates for the April 10 parliamentary elections are dropping out one after another amid controversies over fraudulent real estate investments and the infliction of secondary damage on victims of sexual assault in lawsuits. Some members even joined the DP’s satellite party, which they openly criticized. Their aberration from the norm has reached alarming levels.

The majority party revoked the nomination of lawyer Lee Young-sun, a Minbyun member, as the candidate in a district in Sejong City even after she registered her candidacy with the National Election Commission (NEC). Though she reported to the NEC that she owned one apartment and one officetel, she actually owned four apartments and six officetels worth 3.8 billion won ($2.8 million) on her own and together with her spouse. Her debt amounted to more than 3.7 billion won, suggesting aberrant investments. However, as a Minbyun lawyer for jeonse victims, she served as a counsel at a committee established to protect them.

Lawyer Cho Soo-jin is no different. In a case involving a gym operator’s sexual abuse against an elementary school student, she defended the operator, saying the child’s father could be the offender. The lawyer even boasted on her blog that she had drawn a suspended sentence for a child pornography producer who abused a 10-year-old. After controversy erupted, Cho withdrew from her candidacy in a Seoul district. In the meantime, another Minbyun lawyer won the nomination by another DP satellite party to safely get a proportional representative seat. She had vociferously criticized the use of satellite parties as being unconstitutional, as they “destroy our party democracy.”

Minbyun contributed to the promotion of human rights after its launch in 1988 to advocate for defendants against the military rule. But members of the group were recruited as senior positions in the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in administrations and got mired in a number of controversial cases. They received highly generous treatment and even enjoyed privileges as Minbyun lawyers.

In the past legislative election, many controversial figures became lawmakers. Just think of Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, infamous for his cryptocurrency trading during legislative sessions, and former Rep. Choi Kang-wook, who lost his seat after the court found him guilty of making a fake internship certificate for the former justice minister. Can the group now with 12,000 members champion fairness and justice? They are just morphing into a group of soulless lawyers bent on chasing power.