The Supreme Court confirmed Thursday a prison term for Rep. Roe Hoe-chan for violating the Communication Privacy Act, stripping the opposition lawmaker of his parliamentary seat.
Roh’s crime: releasing a list in 2005 of seven former and incumbent prosecutors who allegedly received bribes from Samsung Group, the nation’s largest family-owned conglomerate. Neither Samsung officials nor the prosecutors were punished in the eight-year-long lawsuit for reasons of little hard evidence or the statute of limitations.
In a lamentably narrow interpretation of the law, the top court ruled the progressive lawmaker illegally uploaded the suspects’ names on the Internet, although the public might have not much interest in the bribery case that happened in 1997.
This may conform with legal logic but not with common sense, considering eight years is not such a long time for the people to stop paying attention to this egregious bribery case, which illuminated how the top chaebol controlled the nation’s most influential politicians and ranking law enforcement officers with money. It defies our understanding how the court could rule Roh’s act was not for the public good.
We agree with the purport of the law, which is aimed to prevent reckless eavesdropping and wiretapping. But too strict an interpretation of it can produce unintended results by punishing journalists and activists who expose corruption while protecting those who should be punished, thus discouraging whistleblowers. Granted, laws cannot foresee all unexpected loopholes, which should be filled by judges at courts. The top court justices abandoned their role in this regard.
Equally problematic were the prosecutors who first handled the case, bent on wrapping it up with a bizarre “fruit of the poisonous tree theory” _ which ignores evidence obtained by the illegal process. These prosecutors, probably to protect their seniors, threw away Roh’s evidence based on unlawful eavesdropping of Samsung officials by National Intelligence Service officers. They didn’t even summon Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, just handing him written questionnaires.
Funnier still, prosecutor Hwang Kyo-ahn who closed the case with just a slap on Samsung’s wrist has been nominated as justice minister by President-elect Park Geun-hye.
At the end of the day, a politician who tried to expose filthy collusion between the moneyed and powerful has lost his job, while a prosecutor who virtually covered it up has been promoted to the top. Lawmakers should press Hwang at the confirmation hearing while revising the law in ways to protect bona fide whistleblowers.
President-elect Park should ask herself how this incident fits her slogan of creating a society governed by “principles and common sense.”
