Power can’t defeat public sentiment

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Power can’t defeat public sentiment

Published: 05 Aug. 2024, 20:01

Lee Ha-kyung
The author is a senior columnist of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok would come to work during the weekends to help his juniors polish up indictments. Implying the heaps of documents he had combed through, the ridges on his thumb are worn down. The chief prosecutor strolls instead of playing golf. He abstains from drinking and hotel meals, suggesting a disciplined and stoic life as if he were a monk.

The prosecutor general, who retires on Sept. 15, reprimanded Lee Chang-soo, head of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office, for offering exceptional treatment for first lady Kim Keon Hee when prosecutors questioned her over her suspicious past. The prosecutor general quoted the famous axiom that the law must not surrender to power.

First lady Kim Keon Hee arrives for questioning by the prosecution at a secret office of the Presidential Security Service over her acceptance of a luxury handbag from a mysterious pastor and her alleged manipulation of stock prices, July 20. [NEWS1]

Kim complied with the interrogation more than four years after she was implicated in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case — and five months after the exposure of her acceptance of a luxury handbag from a suspicious pastor. The first lady chose a Presidential Security Service office for her questioning. Prosecutors had to hand in their smartphones before entering the premises. They were ridiculed for being “summoned” by the first lady, not vice versa.

President Yoon Suk Yeol had replaced the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office handling the first lady’s cases with Lee Chang-soo, the president’s ally in the prosecution. Justice Minister Park Sung-jae also refused to return the command over her case to the prosecutor general. The chief prosecutor was told about the district prosecutors’ questioning towards the end of the interrogation. He reportedly irked the president with his defiant behavior.

But the way the presidential office behaves is not convincing. The majority opposition is now bent on stripping the prosecution of its remaining investigative powers in order to turn the top law enforcement agency into an organization merely dealing with indictments. The prosecution has invited its doom by breaking the equality code and further losing public confidence. The government must listen to the outgoing prosecutor general’s warning that “if there is even one person above the law, a democratic republic can crumble.” Han Dong-hoon — a former senior prosecutor and the new leader of the governing People Power Party (PPP) — also expressed disappointment. “The prosecution must live up to public expectations,” he said. As he upheld the principle, Han was able to take the helm of the conservative party in the national convention on July 23.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s pledge to establish the office of the first lady reflects the changed atmosphere after Han’s election as the new leader of the PPP. But the controversy over his free-willed wife will not subside easily, as her secret inner circle remains intact. Genuine atonement and an apology from the first lady are the starting point of real change. Kim only apologized privately to Han and later the prosecutor who questioned her.

Kim Hyun-chul, the son of former President Kim Young-sam, was investigated by the prosecution in the 1990s as the culprit behind the favoritism and bribery scandal related to the Hanbo Group which had gone bust in early 1997. Kim was released without conviction. With his father in power at the time, the presidential secretary in charge of civil affairs, the justice minister, the prosecutor general and the head of the central investigation department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office all came from Busan or South Gyeongsang, the home turf of the president. In the face of public outrage over favoritism, the government replaced the top investigator with popular prosecutor Shim Jae-ryun whom it had hoped would go light on the investigation while appeasing public rage.

But Shim didn’t surrender even under the temptation of cash piles. The government tilted toward giving up the younger Kim upon rumors that professors at Seoul National University were preparing a street rally to call for the resignation of the president. The prosecutors dug up other charges to arrest the younger Kim for bribery arrangements and tax evasion. It was an exemplary case showing that no one is above the law and no power is safe if the public is enraged.

The country’s power today is dominated by law practitioners. The president, heads of the governing and opposition parties, aspiring presidential candidates and 61 lawmakers all came from the legal field. They are making a travesty of politics. The world becomes muddled if laws are exploited to serve political purposes.

Law is the moral minimum. Before turning to the law as the last resort, politicians must avert a catastrophe with their conscience and morality and exercise compromise by respecting their opponents. Han was wise to stress “public expectations” instead of using legal language. He is morphing from a prosecutor into a politician. He must leave his ruthless past as a prosecutor behind him and demonstrate his engaging power. If he is successful in that metamorphosis, he can revitalize his lethargic party and beat the opposition engrossed in protecting its head from his own judiciary risks and increasingly falling out of favor from public sentiment.