Does ruling power take precedence over law?

It is intolerable that police obstructed the lawyers` execution of proper duty by using various violent means -- for any reason. No doubt, this is a flagrant act of shaking the foundation of the rule of law. What`s more, the chief of the Pupyong police station of Inchon, who commanded that the riot police squad be mobilized to quell the protesters of the Pupyong factory of Daewoo Motor, ventured to declare that the governing power took precedence over the law. To hear his reckless remarks, we are prompted to question whether he is really a Korean police officer.

Raising a special concern over the incident is that police ignored the court decision. Lawyer Park Hoon, defender of the Daewoo Motor trade union, tried to enter the trade union`s office with court permission but faced a violent obstruction by the riot police, leading to an untoward development.

When the police force and the Daewoo Motor management blocked the trade union`s office of the company`s Pupyong plant, the union filed a lawsuit with the court demanding a temporary injunction against the police measure and obstruction of business, and the court handed down a verdict ordering the police not to prevent the unionists` entry into their office. In accordance with the court decision, lawyer Park explained the content of the court ruling to the police seizing the office on many occasions Monday and Tuesday and warned that if the police continued to block the office, the act would constitute a offense of obstructing business.

However, the police continued to prevent the unionists from entering their office and finally provoked a violent clash with the unionists, in which the lawyer and about 40 others were manhandled by the police and injured. In short, the police behavior was far from the righteous execution of official duties. More worrisome is the thinking and attitude of the senior police officers, who did not hesitate to make extreme utterances, as if the violent suppression of the protesters was a matter of course. It was the first time since military rule that the police came to defy a legal order. If the government power takes precedence over the law, as the Pupyong police station chief claimed, the people would be left in the cold without a sense of security and confidence in the ruling power.

However urgent the sell-off of Daewoo Motor might be, the government has no justification to handle the trade union in this manner. The situation will go from bad to worse, if the government attempts to obliterate the existence of the trade union, judging that the union is the main stumbling block in the way for the sell-off negotiations.

We are concerned that the police`s illegal interference with the Daewoo question might reflect the government`s and the management`s policy line on the trade union. It is our view that the question of reviving the automaker hinges on cooperation between the trade union and management. In order to create a favorable atmosphere in this regard, the government must thoroughly investigate the incident and mete out stringent punitive actions against the police officials responsible for provoking the mishap.