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The investigation of Taekwang Industry CEO Park Yeon-cha has led to the summoning of former first lady Kwon Yang-sook and ex-president Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s son Geon-ho for questioning. And as early as this weekend, prosecutors may question Roh himself. The investigation has reached its most important phase.
At the crux of this affair was corruption involving a president. A president holds the responsibility of supervising the country¡¯s civil servants, so that they are able to serve the public, and the case clearly shows that the system that operates a country will fail if its top supervisor gets off the right track. When we chose our president seven years ago, none of us imagined that we voted for a leader whose wife would receive a briefcase with US$1 million at the presidential residence, a day before he embarked on a summit trip. None of us suspected that the president we chose was someone who would appoint a former academic colleague to the post of the secretary for general affairs at Cheong Wa Dae and let him take care of dirty business, such as hauling cash-filled bags into the presidential residence. Before we can choose another president, we need to seriously work on how we can strengthen our ways of ensuring an individual has the character to lead our country.
The important duties of a presidential secretary for civil affairs involve not only screening public officials, but also cracking down on corruption among the president¡¯s family and relatives, as well as Cheong Wa Dae employees. But Roh's civil affairs secretary ended up getting arrested for taking bribes, clearly proving that he could not have performed the duties faithfully. He may have caught only minnows while letting big fish get away with murder. That is why the country is mired in the bribery scandal now after his term ended. The office of civil affairs secretary can become the command center for eradicating corruption in government only if it embraces radical change itself.
Park, who owns a mid-sized business in southeastern Korea, gave out between W20 billion to W30 billion (US$1=W1,326) to politicians, public servants, judges, prosecutors, police and heads of regional governments. And while Park was paying officials off left and right, not a single public servant resisted. In other words, all public servants competed to get connected to wealthy business owners like Park. A strict set of rules must be established governing what types of people public servants can or cannot associate with.
The scandal shows that the country, its democratic system and all public servants who constitute that system are supported by the character of the president. If the president distorts the Constitution and the law for his personal gain, then no law can save the country.
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