Rep. Park Joo-sun, an independent, who had been charged with breaching election law, was sentenced to two years in prison at a district court last week. He will be removed from office unless his sentence is reduced to a fine of less than 1 million won or he cleared on appeal.
At the trial, the prosecutor demanded one year in prison. But the bench came up with a harsher ruling, apparently complying with the Supreme Court’s earlier advice against unwarranted leniency for those charged with electoral offenses. The court’s move to deal sternly with electoral offenders should serve as a warning to those who have no qualms about cutting corners or egregiously breaching the law in pursuit to election to public office.
Park, formerly a member of the main opposition Democratic United Party, was charged with attempting to buy votes ahead of the party’s primary in an electoral district in the southwestern metropolis of Gwangju. After failing to win the nomination, he left the party and ran in the April 11 general elections as an independent.
The scandal showcased how ugly competition for election to the National Assembly could turn out to be. Park allegedly started his campaign for the party’s nomination well ahead of the officially sanctioned starting date and attempted to buy off voters participating in the primary. One of his campaign staffers killed himself when he was undergoing an inquiry by the National Election Commission.
Park’s rival, Yu Tae-myeong, who was formerly the chief of a ward office in Gwangju, reportedly resorted to similar campaign tactics. No wonder he was sentenced to two years in prison. Park and Yu were two of the 29 people prosecuted in connection with illegal campaigns for the primary. The court ruled all of them guilty.
The case involving Park is not an isolated one. On the contrary, he is just one of the 79 lawmakers charged with breaching election-related laws during the run-up to the elections for the 19th National Assembly. A substantial number of them will be disqualified as lawmakers, if previous court rulings are any guide. During the 18th National Assembly, 15 of the 37 lawmakers charged with electoral offenses were removed from office when they were sentenced to more than 1 million won in penalty or a prison term.
It is necessary to ensure that none of the electoral offenders will be allowed to retain their posts. Misplaced in their hands are the privileges that should be accorded to those legitimately elected. In this regard, the Supreme Court has done what it takes to redress public grievances over electoral fraud: It has decided to recommend that judges deal sternly with electoral offenders.
At its plenary session earlier this month, the court’s committee empowered to set sentencing guidelines came up with a recommendation that those found to have committed four types of serious offenses, including buying off rivals and entertaining eligible voters, be sentenced to 1 million or more in penalty or prison terms so that they would be evicted from the chamber.
Judges will have to follow the advice faithfully if they are to avoid being denounced for treating electoral offenders with kid gloves, as they often have been in the past.
It is also necessary to speed up the judicial process if those who cheated in their election are to be banned from representing their constituencies as soon as possible. A statutory rule holds that a trial at a district court be completed within six months after charges are filed against the suspect and that all proceedings in the appeals and highest courts be wrapped up in three months after the district court’s ruling.
This rule, however, is ignored far more often than not, probably because the dockets are so crowded. Still, the slow administration of justice is disappointing. Few would believe justice is served if a lawbreaker is allowed to retain his ill-gotten post for almost all of his four-year term. One way to address this problem would be to select the most serious cases and deal with them ahead of the others.
