New Group of Moderate Lawyers in Labor

A group of moderate lawyers are publicly voicing a criticism against the existing bar associations and other lawyers` groups, and beginning to show signs of making their own new organization.

Lee Suk-yon, who is leading the new move, announced yesterday, "The Roh administration has been ignoring the procedural justice. Nonetheless, bar associations like the Korean Bar Association have failed to deal with it by presenting proper interpretation of law. I am working on creation of a group, which can contribute to realization of the rule of law guaranteed by the Constitution."

For now, about 100 practicing attorneys support the move. Some of them are former Justices while a considerable number of them are in their 30s and 40s.

Attorney Lee, however, added, "Nothing is concrete yet. We have not formed a formal preliminary organization. We don`t have any timeline, either."

Currently, the Korean Bar Association has a couple of suborganizations.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com