Saving Han Myeong-sook

By Park Moo-jong

On Aug. 25, 2015, about 150 people, including several lawmakers of the then opposition party, held a "ceremony" to see off a convict going to jail to serve her two-year prison term in front of the Seoul Detention Center.

They shouted "Han Myeong-sook is not guilty." Han, a former prime minister under the government of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, was holding a Bible and a bunch of lilies, a symbolic flower of purity, and wearing a black dress.

The Supreme Court had found her guilty of bribery in a unanimous judgment by all 13 justices in a final appeal hearing, upholding the Seoul High Court's verdict against the then 71-year-old lawmaker from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), led by Moon Jae-in, now President of the Republic of Korea.

"I am wearing black today because the judiciary justice (of this nation) died. I am innocent," she told her supporters and walked into the prison as if she were a "democracy fighter" against a dictatorial and police state.

The judiciary system of the nation, governed by law, found the lawmaker guilty of having accepted dirty money from a businessman (now dead) in her prime minister's office through five-year-long hearings and two appeals. But the defendant and the main opposition party attacked the highest court's final verdict.

Then NPAD leader Moon, who was elected president later in May 2017 after the fall of then President Park Geun-hye, said at that time, "We expected the judiciary to become the last bastion protecting justice and human rights, but that expectation collapsed today."

Five years later in May 2020, the ruling camp is going all-out to overturn the Supreme Court's judgment against Han, apparently engineered by the surprising landslide victory of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the successor of the NPAD, in the April 15 general election.

Leaders of the DPK that won 177 seats out of the total 300 in the poll are calling for a reinvestigation of Han's bribery case. Its floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon said that "all the circumstances prove that former Prime Minister Han was the victim of the prosecution's biased investigation and judicial manipulation."

Kim claimed that Han proclaimed her innocence for her two years in prison and is still suffering. Kim also says that it is not yet too late to bring to light the whole truth.

It is rare for a ruling party to call for the reinvestigation of a criminal case of a politician who was found guilty of bribery by the Supreme Court. Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae sympathized with Han's call in her parliamentary testimony.

The ruling camp cited a memoir the convicted briber (now dead) wrote in prison as grounds that the criminal charges against Han was manipulated. The late businessman wrote in the memorandum that he made a false statement that he gave money to Han due to prosecutors' deals and even threats.

But the memorandum was adopted as evidence in the trials and the court concluded that it was groundless. It was the prosecution that submitted it to the court as evidence. The businessman was found guilty of perjury.

The new development started after a pro-ruling camp media outlet reported the memorandum anew and the DPK promptly took issue with it as if it was waiting for such a news report.

Then NPAD chairman Moon had a luncheon the day before Han was put behind bars and ordered his aides to examine the possibility for the request of a retrial of Han's case. But he gave up filing for a retrial which deemed infeasible while public opinion turned against it.

The Supreme Court's judgment was thoroughly based on evidence, the undisputed element of any criminal case, as seen in the U.S. TV series, "Crime Scene Investigation" (CSI). All 13 justices unanimously accepted the evidence that Han took 300 million won ($243,000) in kickbacks.

Then, what has made the ruling camp pursue the reinvestigation of Han's case anew on the grounds of the memorandum? Han is an undisputed symbolic figure in the current ruling forces. She is a core elder who served as a prime minister in the Roh administration.

It was Han who read the eulogy at the funeral of Roh in 2009. When she was released from prison in August 2017, the then spokesman of the DPK claimed that political revenge (against Han) began before she read the eulogy.

The unanimous decision of all the 13 Supreme Court justices means that Han was lying. Otherwise, the nation's highest court should be disbanded, if the Republic of Korea wants to remain a country governed by law.

It is hard to believe that all the 13 justices were corrupt enough to unjustly convict her.

If the ruling camp leaders "believe" that Han is "innocent" and a victim of a political revenge, what they have to do right now is file for a retrial. Han's case is not a political issue. It's a criminal case. That's it.

Ask for a retrial without attacking the prosecution and court in the name of "reform" of law enforcement agencies.

Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.