Lawmakers should impeach President Park for bribery charges

Lawmakers should impeach President Park for bribery charges. November. 21, 2016 07:09. pisong@donga.com.

When indicting Choi Soon-sil, former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination Ahn Jong-beom, and former senor presidential secretary of private affairs Chung Ho-sun on Sunday, the prosecution said President Park colluded in their acts of crimes. It means that the charges including abuse of authority, coercion, and leak of classified information in government affairs that the three suspects face are equally applied to the president. Prosecutors used the expression‎ that they booked President Park as an official suspect. It is the first time in Korea’s constitutional history that an incumbent president has been indicted by the prosecution as a suspect.

The prosecution has judged that the mobilization of 77.4 billion won (65.8 million U.S. dollars) for the Mir Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation was an act of coercion through behind-the-scene influence-peddling by President Park. Companies reportedly followed the request to donate to the foundations because they feared retaliation through disadvantages in the course of various state approval and permission, and tax probe if they rejected Ahn’s demands. Key executives of the foundations were appointed in line with Choi’s recommendation. The ratio of basic assets, which are banned from being disposed of by Choi, and common assets, which can be freely disposed of, changed from 9:1 to 2:8. The two foundations were effectively Choi’s private coffers.

According to the indictment letters that were submitted to court, President Park was involved not only in the course of fundraising by the Mir and K-Sports foundations but also in the process wherein Choi pocketed wealth. When meeting with Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, Ahn told him in person that KD Corporation, a company run by the parents of a friend of Choi’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra, is a good company, and asked him to give the company an opportunity to supply products to Hyundai Motor. Choi took 50 million won (42,500 dollars) in return for making the company Hyundai Motor’s supplier. After President Park had a one-on-one meeting with Chairman Chung, Ahn handed Hyundai’s vice chairman a brochure of Choi’s advertising agency Play Ground, which he had received from the president, and asked the business tycoon to give the firm advertising contracts. President Park was also involved in Lotte Group’s payment of 7.5 billion won (6.37 million dollars) to the foundations through Ahn. Since when has the presidential office turned into a street vendor-like organization? Suspected crimes committed by President Park aside, we naturally feel a sense of complete hopelessness over her dignity as the president of the Republic of Korea.

If the indictment letters are true, President Park was the mastermind, Ahn was the coercer and Choi was the money collector. If suspected crimes are this serious and grave, prosecutors should indict President Park and Ahn for bribery charges. Prosecutors convicted former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo on the charges of comprehensive bribery. We naturally come to have the question again of why on earth President Park would have been manipulated by Choi.

The prosecution said that former senor presidential secretary of private affairs Chung Ho-sun leaked a total of 180 documents to Choi from January 2013 to April this year, and that 47 cases of them including reviews on selection of minister- and vice minister-level officials constitute leaks of classified information in government affairs. Park is also an accomplice regarding the suspected leaks of classified information in government affairs by Chung. The indictment letter effectively suggests that Park’s excuse that “I several times received support in using expressions of certain speeches and public relations materials from Choi” is nothing but a lie. The fact that review documents on selection of minister and vice minister-level officials were leaked indicates that Choi intervened in their selection process. Further investigation should find which high-ranking officials were hired and fired due to Choi’s influence.

Even suspected crimes by Park that have been revealed already are grave enough to justify an impeachment bill against the president. However, if the embattled president doggedly insists on completing her term in office and undergoing legal proceedings, impeachment is the only option there is. Of course, charges facing by Park have not been verified and upheld by the court just yet. Impeachment is closer to a political process rather than a legal process. Whether the illegal acts that prosecutors allege the president committed are serious enough to constitute a cause for impeachment is a judgment call for individual lawmakers. If the National Assembly fails to impeach the president even with all those charges facing the president, the public will not tolerate and forgive lawmakers. There is no reason for the National Assembly to wait until the results of independent council probe come out. Lawmakers should take impeachment motion immediately.