By Lee Hyo-sik
A 45-year-old judge is causing a stir by posting messages on his Facebook page critical of President Lee Myung-bak over the ruling Grand National Party’s (GNP) railroading of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA).
Following the party’s unilateral passage of the trade accord on Nov. 22, the senior judge at a provincial district court uploaded a message, harshly criticizing the President and senior government officials of being “pro-American to the core.”
The posting reads “Lee and other senior bureaucrats engaging in FTA negotiations with the U.S. are pro-American to the core. They betrayed this country and the public on Nov. 22, 2011. I will not forget this day.”
The judge, a member of the Uri Law Research Society, established by progressive-minded judges, has attracted attention from numerous Facebook users. More than a dozen individuals, including a 42-year-old judge who is also a member of the research group, wrote positive comments supporting his critical view of the parliamentary approval of the Korea-U.S. FTA.
On Nov. 13, the judge also posted a message that read “If the investor-state dispute (ISD) provision in the Korea-U.S. FTA breaches the country’s judicial sovereignty, judges should state their views,” encouraging other progressive-minded judges to speak against the trade accord.
Under the law, judges and other public officials are required to remain politically neutral. They are prohibited from taking part in political activities and becoming a member of a certain political party.
The judge recently told a local daily that he did nothing wrong in expressing his political views in cyberspace. “If I perform my duties in a politically-motivated manner and hand out politically-biased rulings, I will take full responsibility. But it not a big deal to speak about a certain issue on the Internet.”
But with his remarks causing a fuss, the judge recently deleted controversial messages from his Facebook page.
Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court said Friday that it decided to ask its public servant ethics committee to investigate whether the judge violated codes of conduct by uploading online messages critical of the government and the ruling party.
“We decided to forward the case to the ethics committee. Additionally, we will consider establishing a set of guidelines concerning the use of SNS tools by judges and court employees in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” a Supreme Court spokesman said.