[Opinion] President’s Dinner With Prosecutors

When the Roh Moo-hyun government released its personnel plan for senior prosecutors on March 6, 2003, prosecutors went into a panic. Facing the government’s decision to ignore job hierarchy, a senior prosecutor even complained, saying “I’ll see how well they do the job.” Three days later, President Roh and 10 prosecutors held a live television debate at Roh’s request. When a prosecutor mentioned Roh’s past request for a prosecutor, Roh denied that he made a call to request a favor, saying “I think you’re misbehaving.” Audiences judged that the president won the debate.

Needless to say, Roh had poor relations with prosecutors. His administration canceled meetings with chief prosecutors that had been held once or twice per year, with the last one held on June 26, 2003. Whenever a meeting of chief prosecutors was held in the past, prosecutors had dinner with the president and listened to his administrative philosophy at the presidential office. Some say the meetings were abolished because of Roh’s anger over the probe into presidential election fundraising that implicated Roh’s right-hand men. Since then, however, the public has not belittled prosecutors as political watchmen.

President Lee Myung-bak is scheduled to host a dinner with senior judicial figures such as the justice minister and the prosecutor-general after the 63rd meeting of chief prosecutors on June 20. The presidential office said, “The practice has reappeared after five years. Certainly, it was a practice for chief prosecutors to visit the presidential office after the meeting. President Lee just wants to have dinner with them.” The presidential office explained that the dinner is no different from the president’s meeting with ambassadors on April 23 and tax chiefs on May 16.

Critics, however, consider the upcoming meeting as inappropriate. They point to the probe into a stock fraud scandal involving Lee ending on June 19 and the investigation into corruption in public companies. A prosecutor-turned-lawyer said, “Things have changed a lot, but staff at the presidential office obviously have not felt change. If people watch the president and chief prosecutors eat together and smile at each other on TV, they will not trust the investigations into corruption involving influential people and state-owned firms. Lee should consider how the people will consider his meeting with chief prosecutors.

Editorial Writer Kwon Soon-taek (maypole@donga.com)