Bureaucrats excusing themselves

During court review of his arrest warrant sought by the independent counsel on Tuesday, Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, reportedly said, “You will come to learn if you have a chance to work at the presidential office. The president is the law and order in there.” He thus sought to defend himself by effectively arguing that the charges of abuse of power and dereliction of duty against him are nonsense because he only followed the president’s orders. He might have avoided arrest, but he virtually confessed that the presidential office had functioned as if it was a royal palace where vassals take orders from the king, rather than following the rule of law.

Woo is not alone. Many of the civil servants who were entangled in the Choi Soon-sil gate have effectively argued that “I only followed the president’s orders, and I am innocent.” Chung Ho-seong, Park’s secretary for private affairs, said he sent 180 documents including 47 confidential items to Choi Soon-sil at President Park’s instruction. Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential secretary for policy affairs, also testified at a court hearing that the president even gave him specific amounts that conglomerates were asked to donate to the Mir Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation. Let’s say that the two officials blindly followed the president’s orders and instructions because they happened to be (temporary) civil servants. On the other hand, the fact that career bureaucrats Cho Won-dong, former senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, and Choi Sang-mok, former presidential secretary for economy and finance (incumbent First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance), carelessly followed orders that even civilians can tell illegitimacy just because they were the president’s orders demonstrates that officialdom is seriously out of order.

When taking witness stand at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, Ahn only belatedly expressed regret, saying that “Just as I suggested (to the president) that 7 billion won (6.12 million U.S. dollars) from Lotte Group be returned to the company, I should have made proper judgment when the two foundations (Mir and K-Sports) were established.” Civil servants should learn lesson from his remarks. Article 1 of the Civil Servant Act defines central government employees as servants for the national public. Just because they simply followed the president’s orders, they are not exempted from crimes. The Korean Criminal Code recognizes “non-application of illegality’ if a civil servant executes a legitimate order by his or superior. Even if he followed order from his superior, he will inevitably face disciplinary action in case he followed an illegitimate order. Of course, President Park should be held primarily accountable for the fiasco. The criticism that the Cabinet meetings became a meeting at the royal palace first emerged soon after the inauguration of the Park administration.

When civil servants are newly appointed, they take oath that as civil servant of the Republic of Korea, they will follow the Constitution, laws and rules, protect the nation, and faithfully carry out responsibility as servant for the people. If a bureaucrat becomes a faithful servant for a certain superior, an individual, or a private organization rather than the Constitution, laws and rules, and the nation, the country and the public are doomed to collectively face an unfortunate future.