Blindfold of Justice Lifted?
By Oh Young-jin
Business Editor
Being rich shouldn't be a crime. But when rich people commit crimes, they should be punished just like everybody else. But the universal concept of everybody being equal before the law is put into a serious doubt following the government's general pardon ahead of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.
The government Tuesday said 340,000 people, including about 70 important businessmen, would be up for general pardon to attain what it called the unity of the nation. The list includes Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn; Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo; and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
Kim took the law into his hands when he, accompanied by a group of subordinates, allegedly abducted waiters at a room salon in downtown Seoul and beat them up after discovering they had harassed his son. Hyundai Motor's Chung was pardoned even before he finished his sentence of 200 hours community service for a major breach of trust that harmed the interests of shareholders in his companies. SK's Chey was convicted for embezzlement and faced a shareholders' rebellion led by foreign investment fund Sovereign.
The business community welcomed the large-scale pardon that a source says President Lee Myung-bak, himself former CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, pressed ahead with, overriding opposition among his key lieutenants.
An executive who worked for one of the three conglomerates said there was a company-wide effort to get his boss off the hook. ``It is his company and we are on his payroll,'' he said without answering whether the pardon will aggravate public opinion against chaebol.
However, one would sardonically argue that, even if this country has Lady Justice, she would have her blindfold partially lifted so that she can see who she is judging, with the balance in her hand skewed in favor of persons who grease the palm of her other hand.
This pardon is then reinforcing the public myth that people are judged not on the gravity of crime they commit but according to the amount of money they possess.
For foreign investors, they cannot expect a level playing field in a country where the government and chaebol maintain a close relationship. The pardon is set to give an impression that Korea Inc. itself is one big chaebol in which members look the other way when mistakes are made by other members.