It is election season in South Korea and politicians are in the news daily. Unfortunately the news often has more to do with violations of election laws and misuse of power than political arguments or issues. Members of the newly merged liberal parties have been accused of vote buying and of vote manipulation, members of the president’s office are under investigation for misuse of power and members of the National Assembly have been
investigated and punished for offenses ranging from bribery to sex crimes. More significantly a regular theme in the final year of every South Korean presidency is the scandals that involve the family members of the president. For President Lee it is his older brother who is under investigation, for prior presidents it was their sons, brothers and even wives who were the focus of investigations.
But in the midst of all of this shameful behavior is a politician who has accepted the consequences of her actions, or those of her subordinates, and given up her nomination for the National Assembly. This politician has acted with integrity, something that is unfortunately rare among the politicians and power brokers of South Korea. While many will say that the misdeeds she was accused of would have caused her to lose the election regardless and others may regard this as the product of yet another backroom deal, the fact is that the integrity she demonstrated by admitting to her mistakes and accepting the consequences is heartening and a step towards a more mature South Korean democracy.
For South Korea has an unfortunate reputation of corruption. A leading international corruption index places South Korea alongside countries like Brunei, Dominica and Botswana and far below the highly developed countries that it seeks to emulate. The low ranking is attributable in a large part to the ongoing perception of illicit connections between high ranking politicians, the courts and the chaebol. Presidential pardons of chaebol leaders and courts that fail to sentence these individuals to jail due to their alleged importance to the country confirm this perception. Surveys show that over 80 percent of South Korean businesspeople consider corruption among high ranking officials as “serious.” Even the prime minister has admitted that corruption must be overcome for South Korea to enter the rank of top-class nations.
But overcoming this problem does not involve enacting more laws covering white collar crimes, such as embezzlement or bribery, and the solution is not to increase what are already strict sentencing guidelines. The primary issue is a lack of enforcement against well-connected individuals and a sense that the powerful neither believe that norms should be observed nor that the rules must apply to all equally. However recent court rulings, such as the sentencing of a former Taekwang Group chairman to a long prison sentence, are encouraging. In the future such results must become the norm and not the exception.
Thus the integrity demonstrated by Rep. Lee Jung-hee in taking responsibility for her mistakes light the path that all current and aspiring leaders of South Korea must follow. Next month the National Assembly elections will include many political novices with no past stain of corruption. This month the Korean bar will admit 1,500 new lawyers, the majority of whom will never work as a judge or prosecutor, who will never marry into a chaebol family, and who have the opportunity to work their entire careers free of any taint of corruption. For all of us rooting for the success of South Korea, let us urge these new politicians and lawyers to remember the sacrifice of Rep. Lee and to follow her example of integrity throughout their careers. For as the uncle of the action hero Spiderman once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
By Daniel Fiedler
Daniel Fiedler is a professor of law at Wonkwang University. He also holds an honorary position as an international legal advisor to the North Jeolla Provincial Government. ― Ed.
