(Yearender) S. Korea rocked by 'Cho Kuk scandal' in 2019, fairness re-emerges as top social issue

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- This year, fairness has again emerged as a key bone of contention in South Korean society due to the so-called Cho Kuk incident.

President Moon Jae-in's appointment of Cho, a law professor and key presidential aide, as justice minister amid snowballing suspicions about privilege and irregularities involving his family frustrated not only traditional critics of his liberal administration but also many people who voted for him.

The values of fairness and equality are major political assets of Moon, a former human rights lawyer who pledged to transform South Korea into a country of "equal opportunity, a fair process and righteous results" in his inauguration speech.

Impeaching President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal following months of massive candlelight vigils and electing Moon as their new president, people here had hopes that he would transform South Korea.

Traditionally, South Koreans have been very sensitive to class privilege and other fairness-related problems, an apparent legacy of the rapid economic growth that led to a widening gap between the rich and the poor and continued high-profile corruption scandals.

In the eyes of many people, however, the Cho Kuk scandal and Moon's handling of it demonstrate that little has changed.

They were shocked by the revelations of Cho's privilege based on his wealth, social status and networks -- all existing behind his public talk of a need to promote fairness.

His daughter was found to have been "unfairly" cited as the author of a medical research paper while studying at a foreign language high school, one of South Korea's "special-purpose" elite schools, in Seoul. She is suspected of having used it to earn admission to the prestigious Korea University.

Cho's wife is accused of forging a local college presidential citation for her daughter that was submitted as part of her successful application to a Busan-based post-grad medical school. Cho's wife, Chung Kyung-shim, also a professor, was arrested later on related charges, plus ones relating to a dubious investment in a private equity fund.

As Moon refused to withdraw his pick of Cho as justice minister, crowds of protesters filled a square in the Gwanghwamun area of the capital over several weekends.

Supporters of Moon staged their own rallies in front of the headquarters of the state prosecution service in southern Seoul. They argued that prosecutors had misused their legal power over Cho, an architect of the government's far-reaching prosecution reform plan.

Pundits described the phenomenon as "square politics" and attributed it to a political polarization in which the National Assembly does not function properly to resolve social rifts.

As the protests went on, Cho quit his ministerial job on Oct. 14, 35 days after taking office. Moon belatedly offered a public apology and vowed a stronger push for education and prosecution reform.

He said he had realized that the people have a far higher standard of fairness that he thought.

The education ministry soon announced plans to turn most of the country's elite high schools into general ones by 2025 and overhaul the controversial admission policies of local universities.

So-called regular selection, which focuses on the results of the annual College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), will be expanded, and "irregular" admissions -- based on the combined assessment of applicants' academic performance and such alternative admission criteria as records of extra-curricular activities and volunteer work -- will be reduced.

The prosecution's intensive investigation into the Cho family has, ironically, catalyzed a stronger public call for the reform of the all-powerful organization.

Many citizens viewed the probe as excessive and reckless -- a raid on Cho's home by a team of investigators, for instance, lasted 11 hours. They also took issue with the prosecution's practice of leaking investigation-related information to the media ahead of court trials.

They have accused Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl, who took office in late July, of abusing his authority to thwart reform of the prosecution.

Shortly after Cho's announcement of his decision to step down, Moon said he had expected "fantastic harmony" between Cho and Yoon. "It has ended up in a dreamy hope," he said in a public message.

He made it clear that there would be no let up in his push for reform of the prosecution, one of his key campaign pledges.

The government is taking a two-track approach. One is to take advantage of the justice ministry's role as an administrative supervisor and its authority to replace senior prosecutors. Moon has already named Choo Mi-ae, a judge-turned-ruling party lawmaker, as Cho's successor.

The other is to improve the legal system. The ruling Democratic Party (DP) is trying to get major reform bills passed at the National Assembly by the end of 2019. The proposed laws call for the launch of a non-prosecution unit specializing in looking into corruption among high-ranking government officials, including senior prosecutors, and giving police more investigative rights.

While Moon has reset his policy priority to promote fairness for the latter half of his five-year presidency, it remains uncertain how long his reform drive will maintain momentum.

Prosecutors are continuing a probe into the Cho family, which began on Aug. 27 in earnest with rare simultaneous raids on a number of schools and other facilities nationwide. They are expected to eventually indict Cho but the timing is apparently up in the air.

Now, they appear to be focusing investigation on whether Cho was directly involved in two political scandals during his service as senior Cheong Wa Dae secretary for civil affairs.

There are allegations that the presidential office meddled with last year's mayoral election in the southern city of Ulsan to help Song Cheol-ho of the ruling party, and that it covered up a 2017 internal inspection of Yoo Jae-soo, a close associate of Moon, over graft suspicions.

Cho is suspected of having decided to halt inspection of the Yoo case after consultations with Baek Won-woo, then presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Park Hyoung-chul, who was secretary for anti-corruption at that time.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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