Lawyers Be Allowed to Sit on the Bench

"Reforming the prosecution should be substantial in nature so that the investigative body can gain political independence, and transform itself in a democratic and rational organization," commented the Korean Bar Association (KBA) in a statement issued yesterday as to the scandal arising out of the unprecedented promotional decisions.

In the statement, the KBA urged, "Once the reform drive began, the judicial branch should have also been overhauled. We have to adopt the American system. Judges and prosecutors should be selected from practicing lawyers who have worked for the realization of justice in society."

"It is difficult to expect a judge to become a defender of social justice armed with sincerity and courage. Under the current system, a judge is appointed based on their bar exam scores and performance during training. In addition, promotion is also made based thereon. All the scandals are brewed by the system, and people are losing their trust in justice," argued the organization.

"We have to check the abuse of authority on the part of the prosecution. To achieve this goal, we have to allow various appeal procedures from prosecutor`s decisions not to indict. In addition, the prosecution should streamline its decision-making procedure."

On the other hand, the Citizens` Coalition for Economic Justice held a forum yesterday at the Francisco Educational Center in Seoul. At the forum, lawyers and legal scholars discussed diverse approaches to reform in the prosecution.

"We have to accept differences that exist among individual prosecutors,” Dongkuk University law professor Kim Sang-kyum said. “Moreover, the personnel committee should be the one to make promotional decisions in the future, and the Justice Minister should not sit above the Attorney General. Finally, we need to institutionalize the independent counsel system. Our prosecutors have lost their political independence and failed to prosecute major political scandals."

Hansung University professor Kwon Hae-soo proposed, "Major offices in the Justice Ministry should be filled with lawyers and legal scholars other than the prosecutors themselves. Furthermore, the ministry should not be allowed to control the investigative body any longer. We have to renew the two organizations with new faces from the outside. That way, the two organizations will remain separate and independent from each other."

Jin-Kyun Kil Hyo-Lim Son leon@donga.com aryssong@donga.com