0329-Inappropriate treats

The story is perfect material for a B-grade adult film; a construction broker uses his luxurious country house to treat government officials and bankers to games of golf, dinner _ and girls. In return, he asks the guests for building orders and other favors, sometimes blackmailing them with video of orgies they had attended.

As always, public attention has turned to who were on the invitation list of the 50-something builder surnamed Yoon. So far, rumors have pointed to the deputy chief of the government’s inspection agency, the director of a large hospital, lawyers and the branch heads of some banks.

However, an additional question arises: What have the police done since the story was first talked about by officials and businesspeople late last year? This is not just another sex scandal but concerns public officials taking bribes in the form of sexual favors.

One also can’t help but wonder why the prosecution didn’t delve into the case when a female victim of Yoon’s rape and extortion crime filed a complaint, but freed him without indictment. It was only after the scandal began to snowball when the victim disclosed there are video disks containing compromising scenes of the guests and the girls that law enforcement officers resumed their investigation.

Chances are the police and prosecutors have watched Cheong Wa Dae, which chose a vice ministerial official without sufficient vetting.

If true, the Park Geun-hye administration will have reaffirmed its complete inability to pick qualified people for key posts, as witnessed so often over the past three months. Equally deplorable are the police, particularly those in the upper echelon, who attempted to play down the suspicions surrounding the vice-ministerial nominee.

The sex-for-influence scandal could be quite embarrassing for Park, who has stressed the need for stricter discipline and a stronger work ethic within officialdom since taking office. Yet the nation’s first woman president should use this as an occasion to tighten both verification of the track records of candidates for major positions and to drive out deep-rooted corruption in government, especially grafts exploiting this society’s weak moral principles and abuses against women.

President Park should order law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute those involved in thorough and transparent ways, not least because rumors are sometimes more harmful than facts, especially for a fledgling administration.

Korea will be unable to shake off its time-honored bad habit of demanding and providing sex favors as a form of bribery anytime soon. Yet if this society really wants to root out this evil tradition, there can’t be any better time than now while a female president occupies Cheong Wa Dae.

This is The Korea Times editorial for Thursday, March, 21, 2013.