Former bar association chiefs protests current leadership for Sewol bill

Former bar association chiefs protests current leadership for Sewol bill. September. 02, 2014 10:13. .

Seven former presidents of the Korean Bar Association visited the office of the Korean Bar Association in the Gangnam district of Seoul on Monday. They delivered to Wi Cheol-hwan, current president of the association, their opinion protesting that the current executive board of the association proposed the legislation of a special bill granting both the rights to investigate and indict those accountable for the Sewol ferry’s sinking to an ad hoc committee dedicated for the investigation of the ferry disaster.

The four-page opinion said, “Despite the opposing view that granting the rights to investigate and indict those accountable for the disaster to the ad hoc investigative committee is against the grand principles of criminal judicature, the current executive board is ignoring this and demanding (the National Assembly for) legislating a biased bill. This ignores the rule of law and relies on the legislative omnipotence.”

The opinion was written by former presidents and lawyers – Kim Doo-hyun, Park Seung-seo, Ham Jeong-ho, Jeong Jae-heon, Cheon Gi-heung, Lee Jin-gang, and Shin Young-moo. The draft of the opinion contained strong expressions such as “without following the rule of law based on the Constitution and laws,” “encouraging division and jumping on the band wagon,” and “forgetting the purpose of the existence and duties of the Korea Bar Association which is supposed to be politically neutral.” However, such expressions were eliminated in the emergency breakfast meeting. Jeong Jae-heon, who is a senior of the meeting, said to reporters, “We delivered our opinion hoping that (the association’s executive board) could support the Sewol ferry bill based on the rule of law.”

After the former presidents’ visit, the association held a board of directors meeting and issued a press release at 3 p.m. saying, “We neither claim that the special ferry bill proposed by the association is the only option nor reject other options.” The association filed a petition for legislation of a bill that grants the ad hoc committee investigation and indictment rights with the representatives of the families of the ferry victims and civic groups on Jul. 9. On Jul. 24, it released a statement urging for the legislation of the special bill in the names of 1,043 lawyers. As the association which has some 17,000 members issued the statement, some insiders criticized, saying, “The current executive board does not represent all of its members and jumped on the band wagon.”