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| Prison term for Pres. Lee`s older brother
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| JANUARY 28, 2013 07:00 |
Prison term for Pres. Lee`s older brother
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JANUARY 28, 2013 07:00.
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The older brother of President Lee Myung-bak is headed for prison. Lee Sang-deuk, a former ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker, was sentenced to two years Thursday along with Saenuri Rep. Jeong Du-eon, President Lee’s confidant who got one year in prison, for accepting illegal political funds. The Seoul Central District Court had given few prison terms for taking illegal political funds. Though the prison term for Lee Sang-deuk was relatively short, the latest ruling sent a strong message that the practice of giving and taking illegal political funds should be rooted out. The presiding judge of the case said, “Lee Sang-deuk was given a heavier punishment because he took illegal funds as the brother of a favored presidential candidate and as vice speaker of the National Assembly.”
Korea needs to end this type of corruption typical of an underdeveloped country: a president’s relatives and confidants who helped him or her get elected take bribes over the president`s term and get punished after he or she leaves office. President Lee is also responsible since he witnessed the miserable end of life of the older brother of his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, and had been warned early that Lee Sang-deuk was exerting power. If President Lee feels guilty to the people even a little, he should refrain from doing the chronic practice of an outgoing chief executive granting amnesty to scandal-tainted relatives and confidants at the end of his or her term.
President-elect Park Geun-hye and her confidants should take the prison sentence for Lee Sang-deuk seriously. The people have yearned for a president free of corruption committed by relatives and confidants. Should the incoming administration have corruption scandals involving relatives or confidants, the people will turn their back on her. Without public faith in the president, she cannot succeed in governance.
Hyundai Research Institute said last year, “If Korea had the average transparency level of member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, its growth rate could have jumped to 4 percent (last year) from 3.6 percent in 2011.” In this regard, a special inspector, a new position to be created to monitor corruption by the president’s relatives and confidants, will have a strong responsibility. The senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, who will directly report to the president, must be absolutely forthright.
Rep. Jeong was sent to a detention center Thursday, an action that sent a warning to the National Assembly, which did not pass a bill on his arrest in July last year. While both the ruling and opposition parties said they were trying to give up their privileges, they used their protection against arrest as a shield. The ruling party praised political reform over the election period, but stopped talking about reducing allowances for lawmakers and giving up immunity and non-arrest privileges after the victory. People will keep watching the campaign pledge President-elect Park made on the legislation of an anti-corruption law against the president’s relatives and confidants.
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| The older brother of President Lee Myung-bak is headed for prison. Lee Sang-deuk, a former ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker, was sentenced to two years Thursday along with Saenuri Rep. Jeong Du-eon, President Lee’s confidant who got one year in prison, for accepting illegal political funds. The Seoul Central District Court had given few prison terms for taking illegal political funds. Though the prison term for Lee Sang-deuk was relatively short, the latest ruling sent a strong message that the practice of giving and taking illegal political funds should be rooted out. The presiding judge of the case said, “Lee Sang-deuk was given a heavier punishment because he took illegal funds as the brother of a favored presidential candidate and as vice speaker of the National Assembly.”
Korea needs to end this type of corruption typical of an underdeveloped country: a president’s relatives and confidants who helped him or her get elected take bribes over the president`s term and get punished after he or she leaves office. President Lee is also responsible since he witnessed the miserable end of life of the older brother of his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, and had been warned early that Lee Sang-deuk was exerting power. If President Lee feels guilty to the people even a little, he should refrain from doing the chronic practice of an outgoing chief executive granting amnesty to scandal-tainted relatives and confidants at the end of his or her term.
President-elect Park Geun-hye and her confidants should take the prison sentence for Lee Sang-deuk seriously. The people have yearned for a president free of corruption committed by relatives and confidants. Should the incoming administration have corruption scandals involving relatives or confidants, the people will turn their back on her. Without public faith in the president, she cannot succeed in governance.
Hyundai Research Institute said last year, “If Korea had the average transparency level of member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, its growth rate could have jumped to 4 percent (last year) from 3.6 percent in 2011.” In this regard, a special inspector, a new position to be created to monitor corruption by the president’s relatives and confidants, will have a strong responsibility. The senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, who will directly report to the president, must be absolutely forthright.
Rep. Jeong was sent to a detention center Thursday, an action that sent a warning to the National Assembly, which did not pass a bill on his arrest in July last year. While both the ruling and opposition parties said they were trying to give up their privileges, they used their protection against arrest as a shield. The ruling party praised political reform over the election period, but stopped talking about reducing allowances for lawmakers and giving up immunity and non-arrest privileges after the victory. People will keep watching the campaign pledge President-elect Park made on the legislation of an anti-corruption law against the president’s relatives and confidants.
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