Law prevails over politics

When Lee Kwang-jae, whose conviction for accepting bribes from former Taekwang Industry CEO Park Yeon-cha was upheld Thursday, ran for governor of Gangwon Province in spring last year, many doubted whether he would finish his term even if elected. Despite this, he committed to running and the main opposition Democratic Party nominated him. He was elected in June last year, but could not perform his duty as governor due to the allegations against him. He did, however, keep his post according to the Local Government Act. He successfully filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court claiming that suspending his duty as governor before the final verdict came out was unconstitutional. As a result, Lee was able to serve but the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday stripped him of his post.

With the ruling, Lee was forced out of office seven months after his inauguration and five months after he began to serve as governor. Consequently, a new governor should be elected through a by-election. Law has and should prevail over politics in election results. Lee, who wanted to handle a legal matter through politics, and the Democratic Party that nominated him must fully understand the meaning of the ruling. They must be responsible for the chaos they brought and will bring to Gangwon Province.

Lee cried foul but his argument rings hollow. Supreme Court justice Park Si-hwan, who was in charge of Lee’s case, was appointed to the court in November 2005 after serving as legal representative for then President Roh Moo-hyun in Roh`s 2004 impeachment trial. Lee can no longer claim innocence since Park, who had similar political opinions with Lee, and the other four justices confirmed that Lee took bribes.

Roh and his political supporters supposedly represented morality. Lee was the president’s right arm serving as a presidential secretary for national affairs along with South Chungcheong Province Gov. Ahn Hee-jung. What they represented was a myth with the end of the president’s term, however. Another Roh crony, Suh Kap-won, was also stripped of his position as a Democratic Party legislator Thursday for taking bribes from Taekwang’s Park.

Gangwon Province will have an acting governor until the April 27 by-elections, with the cost of the by-election for governor alone to cost 12.2 billion won (10.9 million U.S. dollars). What is sorely needed is a system that holds responsible the person and his or her political party that forces a by-election.