[Column] Except for the Democratic Party? Except for the Prosecution!

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Jin-young] Although I usually read various newspapers diligently, I did not know that Professor Im Mi-ri's column titled 'Except for the Democratic Party' was published. There are colleagues who share good columns or articles on social media, so I often read what I missed in print online, but that column was not one of them. At least, to the eyes of reporters who always read and write columns, it was not an impressive column worth sharing with others. That said, I do not agree with the evaluation by Yoo Si-min, director of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, that it was 'low quality.'

The concise and clear title 'Except for the Democratic Party' was perfect for politicians not affiliated with the Democratic Party of Korea to share, but not many shared it on social media. At least before the column became famous due to the Democratic Party's complaint, it seems they also did not know the column had been published. Because of the nature of newspapers, columns tend to evaporate after a day, but the Democratic Party's complaint, which made this column repeatedly discussed, has become a good example for those dealing with the media as a cautionary tale.

The Democratic Party's idea to take action against the columnist and the media that published it feels absurd because they tried to enlist the power of the prosecution, which they themselves have labeled as a deep-rooted evil and a target for reform. I believe the prosecution became politicized because political issues that should be resolved within the political sphere were entrusted to the prosecution. The increase in political prosecutors is also the result of many politically related cases moving into the judicial domain. Political prosecutors have no place to intervene in ordinary criminal cases like fraud.

Even if the prosecution tries to stay away from politics, it inevitably gets entangled in politics as long as complaints come from either the ruling or opposition parties. Even if basic fact-finding is left to the police, under the current legal system where the prosecution has exclusive rights to indict, the decision to prosecute or not is the prosecution's authority. The case where many politicians were indicted related to the National Assembly clashes during the fast-track designation of judicial reform bills is a representative example. While the primary responsibility lies with those who broke the law and the complaints were inevitable to some extent, it ultimately became an opportunity for the prosecution to step into politics.

The reason politics turns to the prosecution whenever there is a conflict, big or small, is because they lack problem-solving ability. Both the Democratic Party and opposition parties like complaints and accusations. It is uncertain who will win the April general election, but I hope the political tendency to rush to the prosecution at every opportunity changes. I believe that finding solutions 'excluding the prosecution' when the ruling and opposition parties clash is the first step toward prosecutorial reform and the way to correct regressive political culture.