[Reporter¡¯s View] Judge¡¯s true intention

A collegiate judgment panel of the Seoul Appellate Court recently ordered a change in the charges in the written indictment against Gov. Lim Chang-Yuel of Kyonggi Province. The prosecutors who investigated Lim on corruption charges protested, and the press reported it.

However, many judges raised the issue of sanctuary about the prosecutors¡¯ action against judges and the press reports.

¡°The panel did not violate the law,¡± one judge contended.

Others argued that the prosecutors were oversensitive by conjecturing the judges¡¯ thoughts before the sentence is handed down.

The Dong-a Ilbo team covering the legal circle, in anticipation of such reactions, had taken a very cautious attitude in reporting the news.

The team reported the allegation that the prosecution was attempting to show favor for Gov. Lim because there are various circumstances enabling it to harbor a reasonable suspicion.

The prosecution claims concretely that the collegiate panel requested the application for witness through an unofficial channel to change the content of the written indictment and to postpone sentencing, but the panel flatly denied it, saying, ¡°We never did so.¡±

The prosecutors claim that the now closed Kyonggi Bank, which was at the time on the verge of being liquidated, gave bribes to the wife of the governor and at the same time offered pure political funds to the governor-husband.

Gov. Lim still holds his post as he has been tried for 15 months until now without physical detention in an appeal trial after he was convicted of accepting bribes for influence peddling in the first trial three months after he was arrested in October 1999.

It is true that the freedom of the press has been remarkably extended, compared to the days of the past authoritarian governments. But what still remains as a sanctuary in the boundary of the press criticism is the true intention of judges.

Judges, presiding over the whole procedures of trials, make up their minds over which is right between the prosecutors and suspects, and plaintiffs and defendants. The human mind changes.

Even though a reporter might read the mind of a judge in advance, he or she observes the decorum without raising any hasty suspicion until sentencing because he or she respects the judge¡¯s role, namely the trial by conscience guaranteed by the Constitution.

Of course, only the judges of the panel trying Gov. Lim know their minds. But we cannot accept the claim that even the mind of the judge that is suspected with cause is a sanctuary.

kyle@donga.com