By Michael Breen
Political parties and commentators have welcomed the court decision last week to put former President Park Geun-hye behind bars, saying it represents a victory for public sentiment-based democracy.
Presidential hopefuls for the upcoming election took a break from their illegal pre-campaign speeches and tours through markets to humbly credit voters and not themselves for the ruling.
"It's what the people wanted," said Park Mi-bum (no relation) of the minority People's Party.
In a statement, the Prosecutor's Office which had requested Park's detention said jailing people before their trial is a necessary step when they are unpopular. "The people would have been angry if we had not made this request," the statement said.
In a statement of their own, the people agreed.
"Had Park not been jailed, we would have been angry," the people said.
Asked if their regular Saturday protests in downtown Seoul had achieved their aim, the people said that as they didn't have other plans for weekends, the protests would continue.
Meanwhile, foreign media, which do not understand Korea, wrote false reports about the country being "divided." Defending his absurd article, one foreign correspondent prattled about naysayers waving the national flag outside Ms. Park's house.
"She has a lot of supporters," the foreigner, an American, said in English after admitting that the only Korean words he knew were "tangshinyeppoyo."
This is an insult to the people because, following the court decision, the people declared that people who wave flags outside private houses do not represent public sentiment.
"We can't say these people are really the people," a people's representative said. "They are just persons. Democracy is about the people. From this democratic point of view, it is ridiculous to claim that the opinion of persons can be considered. Therefore, to be logical, we must conclude that Park's jailing has been applauded unanimously by the people."
Despite the popularity of the move, however, the court's decision was not a foregone conclusion.
"Judges are very detail-oriented and sometimes they fail to catch the people's will," said Seoul National University law professor Noh Mo-sit. "Judges were those kids in school who were always studying. They are nerds and often don't get it."
Asked about the arguments judges normally consider regarding the jailing of suspects before a trial, Noh said that, besides some technical issues such as flight risk and destruction of evidence, there are two main legal additional arguments.
"One is the need to see how media reacts," he said. "Pre-trial jailing, in other words, is a test of public sentiment."
The other reason is that it is easier for a judge to find a defendant guilty if the defendant is coming to court straight from jail. "It's easier to convict defendants who are wearing the blue prison uniform. I mean, they already look guilty. Again, this helps judges understand what the people want."
Confirming the legal backing for the decision, the presiding judge also credited the people. "This was a very complex matter from a legal point of view," said Ahn Ah-seol after being surrounded by journalists trying to shake his hand.
"Do you think this was fair?" one foreign reporter shouted in English.
Responding in fluent English, Judge Ahn said, "Yes."
He then explained in Korean to reporters about the concept of equality before the law. "We had to consider the question of fairness," he added."For example, if the former President's friend Choi and if Mr. Lee of Samsung are in jail, is it fair that the former president is allowed to wander freely around? The law says no."
Asked what absurd arguments the president's lawyers made, Judge Ahn said they presented the court with several boxes which they claimed contained legal arguments for the court's review. "We thought they might contain money," he said, "so we didn't touch them."
Michael Breen is the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, a public relations company, and author of "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader." This is the author's fictional account and does not reflect The Korea Times' editorial policy.
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Presidential hopefuls for the upcoming election took a break from their illegal pre-campaign speeches and tours through markets to humbly credit voters and not themselves for the ruling.
"It's what the people wanted," said Park Mi-bum (no relation) of the minority People's Party.
In a statement, the Prosecutor's Office which had requested Park's detention said jailing people before their trial is a necessary step when they are unpopular. "The people would have been angry if we had not made this request," the statement said.
In a statement of their own, the people agreed.
"Had Park not been jailed, we would have been angry," the people said.
Asked if their regular Saturday protests in downtown Seoul had achieved their aim, the people said that as they didn't have other plans for weekends, the protests would continue.
Meanwhile, foreign media, which do not understand Korea, wrote false reports about the country being "divided." Defending his absurd article, one foreign correspondent prattled about naysayers waving the national flag outside Ms. Park's house.
"She has a lot of supporters," the foreigner, an American, said in English after admitting that the only Korean words he knew were "tangshinyeppoyo."
This is an insult to the people because, following the court decision, the people declared that people who wave flags outside private houses do not represent public sentiment.
"We can't say these people are really the people," a people's representative said. "They are just persons. Democracy is about the people. From this democratic point of view, it is ridiculous to claim that the opinion of persons can be considered. Therefore, to be logical, we must conclude that Park's jailing has been applauded unanimously by the people."
Despite the popularity of the move, however, the court's decision was not a foregone conclusion.
"Judges are very detail-oriented and sometimes they fail to catch the people's will," said Seoul National University law professor Noh Mo-sit. "Judges were those kids in school who were always studying. They are nerds and often don't get it."
Asked about the arguments judges normally consider regarding the jailing of suspects before a trial, Noh said that, besides some technical issues such as flight risk and destruction of evidence, there are two main legal additional arguments.
"One is the need to see how media reacts," he said. "Pre-trial jailing, in other words, is a test of public sentiment."
The other reason is that it is easier for a judge to find a defendant guilty if the defendant is coming to court straight from jail. "It's easier to convict defendants who are wearing the blue prison uniform. I mean, they already look guilty. Again, this helps judges understand what the people want."
Confirming the legal backing for the decision, the presiding judge also credited the people. "This was a very complex matter from a legal point of view," said Ahn Ah-seol after being surrounded by journalists trying to shake his hand.
"Do you think this was fair?" one foreign reporter shouted in English.
Responding in fluent English, Judge Ahn said, "Yes."
He then explained in Korean to reporters about the concept of equality before the law. "We had to consider the question of fairness," he added."For example, if the former President's friend Choi and if Mr. Lee of Samsung are in jail, is it fair that the former president is allowed to wander freely around? The law says no."
Asked what absurd arguments the president's lawyers made, Judge Ahn said they presented the court with several boxes which they claimed contained legal arguments for the court's review. "We thought they might contain money," he said, "so we didn't touch them."
Michael Breen is the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, a public relations company, and author of "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader." This is the author's fictional account and does not reflect The Korea Times' editorial policy.
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