[엄상익 칼럼] Regrets of a special prosecutor – THE AsiaN

What does a prosecutor do for a living? Still, shouldn’t we live with a sense of mission to correct this society? It seems like the world’s treatment has been okay. However, there seem to be many cases where there is no end to greed to advance into politics in order to get promoted (from the main text).

One day, I saw on the news that a prosecutor had received hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes. He was a special prosecutor who was doing well. He quit his job as a prosecutor and moved into politics. Such an incident occurred just before he won the primary and was awarded a gold badge in a difficult terrain in Seoul. He came to my law office. He roughly said it like this:

“I was in the examination room when my father-in-law brought a friend during lunch break. Since my father-in-law introduced it, I had no doubts. After finishing the meal, I went into the prosecutor’s office and my father-in-law gave me 20 million won to cover the investigation costs. I received it without any doubt. After that, I got food from my father-in-law’s friend, drank together, and played poker. He seemed like a nice guy. He didn’t ask for anything. Then, three months later, he said he would go to the prosecutor’s office and be questioned as a reference. So, I voluntarily called the prosecutor in charge and asked him to be kind. That’s it. However, it was only after the incident that I found out that he had given hundreds of millions of won to my father-in-law. My father-in-law spoke to the prosecutor’s son-in-law and said he would take good care of it. He took the money and gave me 20 million won. I believed it, but my father-in-law is a really bad guy. I said I would never see you again. “But it stayed fine until it exploded later when I ran for office.”

Such cases occurred often. I quietly waited for his next story.

“The prosecution wanted to arrest me, so I ran away. Of course, my wife gave birth to a child at that time. I used someone else’s medical insurance for fear of being traced. Still, I was a successful prosecutor in the special department. He made a name for himself by arresting the police chief, ran for a National Assembly member, and was elected, but fell to the ground overnight. I was caught and put on trial, but the judge already had prejudices. There’s no way I wouldn’t have received a request. So, I met the person introduced by my father-in-law, recorded his statement and submitted it to the court, and the judge got angry. They say they won’t listen to it because they didn’t get the consent of the person involved. So I was sentenced to prison. When I fell to the floor, I felt all sorts of regrets. I think it was wrong to hit the child caught in the ear during the first pregnancy test. After experiencing myself being criticized on TV as a briber of a large sum of money, I realized my desire for publicness and fame, which was enjoying catching a criminal and having his name appear in newspapers and broadcasts. Among the things I prosecuted, there were cases where I was acquitted, and now I’m starting to think that what they said may actually be right. I never listened to them. If I had been elected and become a member of the National Assembly, I would have been so proud that I would have run wild. Since I’m like this, there are people around me who tell me not to say anything and just pray. Then they say that God will send someone to help us.”

As he suffered, his eyes seemed to open. It seems that voting is not the only thing that determines whether an election is successful or not. It may be a more reliable way to catch the other party’s corruption and throw him or her into prison. How many politicians are clean without a speck of dust? There are no volunteers who will work purely during the election process. One prosecutor even shouted at me that if I wanted to, I could reorganize politics at the prosecutors’ office.

After that, I served as an interviewer for the third test of the bar exam. I posed this question to someone who wanted to become a prosecutor.

“If my father’s friend worked as a prosecutor, he would have a hard time with a low salary. If he offered to give me financial help, would you take it?”
“I’m giving it to you as a gift, but I think it’ll be hard to refuse.”
“Then how much do you think you can take?”

He pondered for a while and then answered:
“Wouldn’t it be okay for a salary?”
“So it’s tens of millions of won a year?”
“Is it too much?”

He was embarrassed. These were some of their rituals that I glimpsed.

What does a prosecutor do for a living? Still, shouldn’t we live with a sense of mission to correct this society? It seems like the world’s treatment has been okay. However, there seem to be many cases where the greed to advance into politics for promotion is endless.

Cows and horses like to eat beans and grass. Children like to be given toys. People like it when you give them gold badges. If you look at such people from God’s perspective, wouldn’t they look like cows or horses insensitive to math or philosophy?