It seems that Judge Kim Se-yoon is doing favours for the Special Prosecutors.
What this ruling means is that if any businesses or their activities are related to the government, then they could end up behind the bars.
Show us solid evidence that can prove bribery and its actual process, not just guesswork.
By JEONG Kyu-Jae, CEO and Chief Editor of PenN
How should we react to Judge Kim Se-yoon’s decision?
If we follow the logic of Kim Se-yoon, who is the presiding judge of the first trial of the Choi Soon-sil and Shin Dong-bin case, most of the heads of 10 Korean conglomerates that sponsored the Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics must get jail term as well. These companies include Hyundai Automobiles, Posco, CJ and Korean Airlines. These organisations spent a huge amount of money totalling over 1 trillion won, as the government asked them, to sponsor the Olympics. They are purchasing the tickets and filling the stadium with this money.
These companies have comprehensive business relationships with the Blue House and governmental organisations at various levels, so under the logic of the Judge, it follows that we should also regard this money as being bribes.
If we follow Judge Kim’s logic, the heads of these companies should also be imprisoned. That is why I consider Judge Kim’s judgement as his personal view, not a considered opinion of the judiciary based on the law. If we follow the judge's logic, we also have to punish the Olympic spectators, as they are colluding with these companies to make the Olympics a success.
The Lotte Group has provided land to the government to house the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) system. Does Kim consider this to also be a flagrant anti-national action and anti-Chinese crime?
I strongly denounce Kim Se-yoon, who accepted most of the Special Prosecutors’ claims. Judge Kim accepted as evidence the note of Ahn Jong-beom, a former chief economic policy aide, as he believed that the words ‘company situations’ in Anh’s notes suggested that there have been comprehensive corruptive relationships between the two, because there has been bidding for new duty-free business. This interpretation suggests that if there is a likelihood, then we can accept it as evidence of guilt.
Judge Kim’s judgement suggests that all contact with the government and related actions, even though derived from normal business activities, can be interpreted as either intervention in a company’s management or bribery.
Today’s judgement has been considered and concluded on the premise that ‘guesswork leads inevitably to punishment’. There was no further reflection on the matters under consideration - only repetition of the Special Prosecutors’ assumptions. It is lamentable to hear such a judgement in a country that is governed by law.
Mir/K Sports Foundations were definitely government businesses. In a country where businesses cannot do other than to follow what the government asks, it follows that if we do any related business and business activities, it will probably end up facing trial. It is inevitable that businesses relate to the government, no matter in what direction we look. Thus, logic suggests that if we consider all business activities as tacitly bribing which will end up behind bars, this means that we shouldn’t do any business!
It seems that today’s judgement on the Choi Soon-sil case is not based on evidence but on speculation and prejudice. The trial was not based on investigations to reveal the truth; instead it focused on how to build a case to punish the accused. We don’t want a ‘not sure but it is highly likely’ approach. We want decisions made to have clear and solid evidence, should there be any, of plotting of bribery and its process.
PenN is run by Jeong Kyu-jae, formerly editorial chief of HanKyung (The Korea Economic Daily).
ReplyDeleteMr Jeong was forced to leave his position after he interviewed President Park in January 2017. The notorious Media labour union (leftist) just couldn't leave him alone.
He is one of very few authentic and responsible journalists in Korea. He heavily condemns articles written without verifying facts, and suggests that Korean journalists' professionalism has died.
Most of the conservatives don't regard Chosun, JoongAng and Dong A as conservative newspapers.