Jin Kyung-joon and ‘denied justice’

Jin Kyung-joon and ‘denied justice’. May. 12, 2018 07:37. pisong@donga.com.
Geomungo master Baeka had a friend named Jongjagi. When Baeka played the geomungo thinking about him climbing a high mountain, Jongjagi said his music gives him the feeling that he was standing in front of a high mountain. When Baeka imagined a flowing river while playing, Jongjagi said it was like a big river is flowing in front of him. After Jongjagi died, Baeka stopped playing the geomungo, lamenting that there is no one who understands his music anymore. The word “Jieum” has been originated from this story. A friend, who understands my heart, is called Jieum, which means to know the melody of a song.

Ex-senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon, who received Nexon shares from Kim Jung-ju, the chairman of Nexon’s holding company NXC, was found not guilty of bribery Friday. In the ruling, the higher court called Kim and Jin, who have been friends for 30 years, “Jieum” and said if Jin received money from such a close friend like Kim, he could be found guilty of bribery even though he did not gave him favors in exchange for the money. But the Supreme Court did not find him guilty on bribery like the first trial.

The ex-prosecutor was offered a chance to buy 10,000 unlisted stocks of Nexon that many could not buy even if they wanted to and, to make matters worse, bought them with his friend Kim’s money. In fact, the court only considered the money Jin used to buy the shares as a bribe, but not the opportunity to buy them. The definition of bribery made by the court was different from a popular view from the beginning. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court saying the 10-year statute of limitations on the case has expired.

In order to buy the shares, Jin borrowed some 425 million won, which of course has not been paid back, from Kim. He sold the shares 11 years later to earn a profit of 12.6 billion won. Jin was sentenced to four years in prison for pressuring Korean Air to funnel work to his brother-in-law but he still has the 12.6 billion won in his pocket. Jin and Kim might have been so close to prepare for possible difficulties like this but they can hardly be called Jieum. And justice is nowhere to be found in that ruling.