Regarding recent rule changes, there is good news and bad news. First, the good news: the President will no longer name the prosecutor general unilaterally choose one from among candidates recommended by a nine-member committee, for the first time in judicial history.
The bad news is, the initial, most important, phase of forming the panel and selecting nominees is being handled by the outgoing administration, not the incoming one.
This simply makes no sense. A departing leader should have no reason or place in appointing the heads of major administrative organs, much less one of the four major power apparatuses, along with intelligence, police and tax agencies.
Nor should the appointment be made with such great haste as it is now. The Justice Ministry says it can’t leave the post vacant any longer. But many within the prosecution refute this, noting the organization has done quite well under an acting prosecutor general even during the sensitive period of the presidential election, and could wait for another month or two until the next leader fills the vacancy.
All this deepens the popular suspicion that President Lee Myung-bak and his secretary-turned-justice minister have been working to put one of their men in the top law enforcement post to get rid of possible troubles in the future ― probably under the tacit understanding of President-elect Park Geun-hye.
Most, if not all, Korean Presidents were not free from corruption scandals during and after their terms of office, and none more so than the incumbent one, who has seen dozens of former aides and relatives, including his elder brother, go to jail for embezzlement, influence peddling and other abuses of power. Lee himself has been mired in several scandals, some of which have been swept under the rug and have not been cleared up yet. And it was Justice Minister Kwon Jae-jin that has served as a windbreak for his boss using self-picked prosecutor generals.
It must not be allowed to continue through the next administration. President Lee and Minister Kwon should take their hands off the process right away. President-elect Park, if she appoints one of the candidates recommended by the panel Kwon formed, should take full responsibility for any problems that will occur as a result.
The next prosecutor must be smart, neutral and honest to tackle the daunting task of reforming the politicized, corruption-ridden prosecution.
People will read Park’s determination for prosecutorial reform in her choice of prosecutor general. If she lets the ongoing process continue as it is, the biggest losers will be the nation’s democratic processes and the rule of law.