Thief in policeman's clothing
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By Park Yoon-bae
It is not only shocking but also shameful to hear that a police officer colluded with a safecracker in order to steal money from a post office in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, last month.
He betrayed his conscience and professional code of conduct. How could he even consider robbing the post office vault that contained 52 million won?
He was just like the fox guarding the hen house. The officer, a 44-year-old with the surname Kim, turned against serving the state and the people whose safety and property he should have protected.
He betrayed public trust by becoming a thief in a police uniform. He first suggested the scheme to his friend, surnamed Park, a convicted safebreaker. He is accused of standing guard while Park tunneled into the vault from a restaurant next door to steal the money, which the two shared equally.
Kim is alleged to have dreamed up and committed a seemingly perfect crime. But everyone knows that there is no such thing as the perfect crime.
More surprising is that the case was not his first criminal act. In 2005, he also worked with Park to steal money from an automated teller machine, according to police. Although he avoided punishment, he was put on a list for those requiring close monitoring.
It is safe to say that police negligence and their overly lenient attitude led Kim to repeat a similar offense in the blind pursuit of money. He should be subject to harsh punishment after a thorough investigation is completed.
It is beyond description how frustrated people have become at crimes conducted by police officers. Kim’s case is only the tip of the iceberg regarding rampant police corruption.
It is common to read of large numbers of police officers being arrested and indicted for accepting bribes, committing sexual assault, running illegal loan shark networks and gambling websites, and demanding kickbacks in return for looking the other way when criminal acts occur.
Needless to say, corrupt policemen are the enemy of the rule of law. The post office robbery came after a series of scandals involving prosecutors, including Kim Kwang-joon, arrested in November for accepting about 1 billion won in bribes from a conman and the Eugene Group in return for peddling influence.
It is almost as if police officers and prosecutors are competing with each other to prove who is more corrupt and avaricious.
The National Police Agency (NPA) is now locked in a turf war with the prosecution. The police want to have their own investigative rights independent of the prosecution.
It is necessary to redefine the role of the police and the prosecution. It is also inevitable to break the prosecution’s monopoly on investigative powers and give more autonomous authority to the police.
However, the public cannot but express concern that the more power the police get, the more corrupt they could become. For this reason, the judicial reform President-elect Park Geun-hye is seeking should not only be confined to the separation of investigative rights between the two law enforcement agencies.
After her inauguration next month, Park must immediately press ahead with the reform to firmly establish the rule of law. The reform should be focused on how to eliminate corruption from the police and the prosecution.
Of course, the first thing she should do is get the economy back on track to help people by implementing her policy of “economic democratization.” It is also important to build up national unity and social cohesion to bring about a more hopeful future.
Without successfully waging an anticorruption campaign, Park’s leadership won’t change a nation that has long been mired in corruption, self-serving bureaucracy and nepotism.
Corruption within law enforcement authorities is often considered to be the byproduct of corrupt politics. Almost every president has seen members of their inner circle arrested on charges of bribery, influence peddling and creating secret funds.
President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother, Lee Sang-deuk, was arrested in July on bribery charges. He was a six-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party. Several of the President’s confidants have also been jailed on corruption charges.
On Monday, Transparency International (TI) Korea selected the President’s brother’s arrest as the top corruption news for 2012 in the nation.
President Lee has made little progress in an anticorruption drive, despite a firm pledge to usher in a fair society that is clean and transparent.
Last month, TI placed Korea 45th in global corruption awareness among 176 countries, down from 43rd in 2011 and 39th in 2010.
Korea’s ranking will not improve as long as members of presidents’ family, lawmakers, politicians, bureaucrats, tycoons, bankers, policemen and prosecutors are corrupt.
President-elect Park should keep in mind that she cannot make people happy and bring hope to the nation if she fails to lead a crusade against corruption.