ed Unfair prosecution

The integrity of the prosecution is coming under question again at a time when calls for its reform are mounting amid a flurry of corruption cases involving prosecutors.

Last week the prosecution failed to indict ruling party lawmakers Kim Jin-tae and Yeom Dong-yeol out of the 12 incumbent legislators the National Election Commission (NEC) had charged with violating the election laws during the April general election. The NEC immediately asked the high court to review the prosecution’s decision not to indict the two lawmakers who allegedly are close to President Park Geun-hye.

The election watchdog accused Rep. Kim of sending text messages to more than 90,000 people in March saying that he received evaluations from civic groups that he honored more than 70 percent of his election pledges. The NEC found Kim’s allegation false, noting that the assessment was of his own making, not by civic groups. But the prosecution didn’t indict him merely on the grounds that he was not aware of the possibility that his message could be untrue.

Rep. Yeom was accused of underreporting his wealth to the NEC, but the prosecution accepted his explanation that he had just made a mistake in reporting his fortune and didn’t prosecute him.

By sharp contrast, the prosecution indicted Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea who had been accused of falsely claiming that the number of students per class at all schools in Guro, her constituency, fell to 25. As it turned out, the number of students at all schools didn’t drop to 25.

Looking at the three cases makes one wonder by what kinds of standards the prosecution made such decisions. The NEC’s petition must not be taken lightly, considering that it is clearly an objection to the fairness of the top law enforcement agency.

That is why the opposition’s argument that prosecutors have been bent on suppressing the opposition parties by applying a double standard sounds all the more plausible.

Not surprisingly, the prosecution’s political bias has always been a problem whether the regime was liberal or conservative. But its blind subservience to those in power of late appears to have surpassed a perilous level.

Investigating election offenses fairly is one of the important yardsticks gauging the prosecution’s political neutrality in that it determines whether a lawmaker can keep his or her parliamentary seat. There is no doubt that the prosecution won’t be able to remove its stigma of being tainted with politics as long as its fairness is in question. We feel the urgent need to spur the reform of the prosecution once again.