[Opinion]Be a Prosecutor Worthy of the People`s Respect

Former Taegu high prosecutor, Shim Jae Ryun, who was dismissed for disobeying orders, returned to the Prosecutors Office. He was a highly regarded prosecutor, praised as a `old school prosecutor` and `steely prosecutor` who arrested the incumbent President`s son and worked on major investigation cases such as government corruption in the Fifth Republic.

The decision to reinstate Shim can be seen, beyond personal vindication, as a testament to the fact that just lawgivers still exist in this country, which has become an open sore through corruption and schemes, and that the truth is victorious in the end.

The Prosecutors Office statutes set in stone the prescription that the prosecutor represents the public good, must maintain political neutrality in carrying out his duties, and must never abuse his power. That`s right. The prosecutor is the sword of justice that fights for the people and nation against every evil and enemy of the law. This is the source of the prosecutor`s authority and the reason why the people respect him. Accordingly, there should be no need to call someone a `true prosecutor` Yet, at a certain point in time, `political prosecutors` showed up in our society and wreaked havoc. These people not only threw away all concern for the people`s interest and national welfare for the sake of achieving personal ambitions and gaining political power, but destroyed the very position of prosecutor itself.

If political neutrality is the basis for the prosecutor`s existence, the diametrically opposite `political prosecutor` already fails to qualify as a prosecutor. High prosecutor Shim was the first high-ranking official to openly criticize these political prosecutors. In January, 1999, when the legal world was swept in controversy over the Taejeon Legal Profession Corruption Incident, Shim made a statement titled, `Apology to the People.` In the statement, Shim pardoned a prosecutor who fell under the former authoritarian government, demanded the retirement of the head of the Prosecutors Office who banished high ranking prosecutors for corruption by listening to a corrupt lawyer, and requested a general reform of the Prosecution.

However, the head of the Prosecutors Office summoned the Disciplinary Committee and fired Shim for disobeying orders. Yet, waves of public opinion and low-level prosecutors burning with indignation opposed en masse and eventually toppled the forces that had dismissed Shim.

The prosecution scandal became the stimulus for a thorough examination of the structure of the Prosecutors Office. Prosecutor Shim resolved to clarify the issue through the court decision and lived a life of patient endurance for two years and seven months. The first and second trials, and even the Supreme Court judged that the firing of Prosecutor Shim was an abuse of power. The Supreme Court gave a lucid legal explanation, deciding that the head of the Prosecutors Office summoning the High Prosecutor for confronting a lawyer does not constitute an order and, therefore, Shim`s refusal to comply does not constitute disobedience. It clarified the eminence of the prosecutor`s position and judged that he be reinstated.

The Supreme Court confirmed that the Korean prosecutor represents the authority and dignity of his office and that he cannot be pushed around by political prosecutors who rely on their political influence. The issue now is what the prosecutors will do from here on out.

Political authorities always face the temptation to co-opt the prosecution. On this point, little has changed since past authoritarian governments. The one who cooperates with such powers becomes a political prosecutor, and the one who steadfastly sticks to his duties and maintains a critical relationship with the powers becomes a `true prosecutor`

The political authority may think that using political prosecutors is in its own interest, but it only ends up digging its own grave deeper by doing so. A government who used political prosecutors has never remained in history for long. That is why they say that justice must run the affairs of the state.

This time, the Ministry of Justice and Chief Prosecutor appointed Shim to the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and accorded him the honor and respect due to a High Prosecutor. It is good to see the Prosecutors Office trying to restore its own dignity and pride. As Shim stated after his reinstatement, ``I will not permit the office of the prosecutor to be disparaged.`` one hopes that, along with him, our nation`s prosecutors will show us the true merit of truth and justice.

The foundations of legal order and democratic society are shaking now and the people are anxious. The current situation makes me seriously reflect on what the prosecutors must do as the representative of justice and servant of the people. The koan that remains is still `true prosecutor`

Chung Jong Sup (Professor of Law, Seoul National University)