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The decision to not indict Kim will backfire

Published: 20 Oct. 2024, 19:41

First lady Kim Keon Hee has been freed from a judicial risk related to her involvement in a stock manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in Korea, after the prosecution dropped the case. Concluding the case that dragged on for four years and six months, the prosecution found Kim’s accounts were used by schemers who inflated the stock prices of Deutch Motors between 2009 and 2012, but it couldn’t find enough proof on her participation in the scheme.

The prosecution deemed Kim had trusted her accounts with Kwon Oh-soo, then-chairman of Deutsch Motors, but was unaware of the wrongdoings. But another client whose accounts were used for stock manipulation was sentenced to a six-month prison term with a one-year stay of execution. The prosecution claimed the two cases differ in the specifics. The prosecution would have examined the legal grounds, but the findings cannot convince the people.

The case was closed without referring it to an external review committee, although the prosecution lately has made it a habit to add objectivity to the validity of its indictment decisions through the committee.

The case related to Kim’s reception of a luxury handbag from a mysterious pastor also was referred to the review committee of outside experts. The prosecution said the case was reviewed by a “red team” in the law enforcement authority. But internal decision-making process cannot earn public confidence.

Kim is now legally freed from judiciary risks after the prosecution dropped the stock manipulation case on the heels of closing the indictment review on her acceptance of a luxury bag last month. Yet controversies around the first lady have only escalated. Opposition Democratic Party (DP) proclaimed the country’s legal order collapsed to indulge the first lady. The DP had pressed for motions to enable a special counsel probe on her twice but its endeavors were stopped by a presidential veto and the lack of quorum needed for passage. The presidential couple will continue to be beset with public backlash and the opposition-led drive for an independent probe if the first couple doesn’t come up with persuasive political or ethical action, regardless of the prosecutorial conclusion.

The first lady needs to seriously reflect on the harm she caused the country with her controversies. She must apologize and seek understanding and forgiveness truthfully. She must show that she is serious this time on her promise to stick to the wife’s role. A secretariat office to keep watch over her affairs and an independent inspector authorized to probe family matters of the president must be installed as soon as possible. Since the president already promised to oblige with the installation of a special inspector, the legislature must hasten to arrive on a bipartisan choice.