Holding Criminal Presidents Accountable in the US and Korea
Holding Criminal Presidents Accountable in the US and Korea
Are politicians above the law? South Korea and the USA provide contrasting examples.
I was in Gwanghwamun Square on March 10, 2017, when Park Geun-hye was removed from office following her impeachment over corruption crimes for which she was later convicted and sent to prison. I was in Washington, DC, in 2019 when Donald Trump was impeached for the first time.
Scenes of anti-Park rallies in Gwanghwamun in 2017. My photos.
Korea and the US provide striking contrasts in the treatment of presidents and powerful politicians accused of crimes.
In South Korea, the Constitutional Court reviewed the impeachment of Park and found her guilty, removing her from office. In the United States, the partisan members of the Senate reviewed both of Trump's impeachments. The outcome of the Senate proceedings was never in question. The second time, they didn't even hold a trial.
In the 235 years of America's Constitutional republic, presidents have been impeached four times; none were ever removed from office. In the 35 years of Korea's Sixth Republic, two presidents have been impeached, and one was removed from office.
Now the criminal stage is underway. Losing presidential candidates in both the US and Korea have either been indicted or are close to being indicted.
Former Gyeonggi governor Lee Jae-myung has been indicted on charges of breach of trust stemming from a corrupt real estate deal that went down in Seongnam, a suburb south of Seoul, while he was mayor. When the prosecutors requested to arrest Lee, who is now a representative and leader of the Democratic Party, the Assembly voted to block his arrest.
Legislators in Korea have immunity because dictators Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan had arrested legislators for political crimes. Many laws organizing Korean politics today are reactions to the abuses of the previous authoritarians (presidents can only serve one term, for example, to prevent them from trying to stay in office for life).
Roh Tae-woo (left) and Chun Doo-hwan (right) on trial in 1996. AP/Yonhap photo.
Ex-presidents in Korea can and are held accountable for their crimes, however. Chun and his successor Roh Tae-woo were convicted of treason for orchestrating the 1979 coup and the 1980 Gwangju massacre. Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye were both convicted and imprisoned (and Park was later pardoned) for crimes involving receiving bribes.
Not only presidents, mayors, representatives, and cabinet members have been convicted in Korea. Many of Moon Jae-in's officials are under investigation for things they may have done during Moon's presidency.
The Democratic Party of Korea argues that many investigations into Lee and ex-Moon officials are politically motivated. The controversy will play out in court and in public discourse. But would you rather risk having some cases brought against the powerful that might be wholly or partially motivated by politics, or would you rather give the powerful a free pass? It is difficult to strike a balance that is favorable to national interest and justice.
A politician who builds up a cult-like following can shamelessly abuse power and break the laws he is supposed to uphold and then get away with it by threatening to incite riots. Is that justice? Law and order? Is that healthy for a nation's democracy?
In America now, Republican politicians are trying to shut down ongoing investigations into Donald Trump. Trump is being investigated in multiple jurisdictions, including in Manhattan, NY, where he paid hush money to a porn actress with whom he had an affair in order to keep her silent before the 2016 election.
Rep. Jim Jordan has sent a letter to the prosecutor overseeing the hush money case threatening to drag him in front of the House Judiciary Committee for questioning.
The Republicans are essentially making the argument that no ex-president or presidential candidate should ever be investigated or indicted for anything:
The three Republican chairs had requested Bragg's testimony in a letter last week. "You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former president of the United States and current declared candidate for that office," they wrote Monday.
The letter states that the indictment of a former president is a de facto "abuse of prosecutorial authority."
What if a president violates campaign finance law? What if a president takes bribes? What if a president orchestrates a coup after losing a democratic election?
In 2016, candidates Hillary Clinton and Trump were both under investigation by the FBI, and the FBI made many public comments about the investigation into Clinton. Trump used the slogan "lock her up" and attempted to push the Department of Justice to do just that. If Clinton had broken the law, should she have been prosecuted? Based on the argument put forth by leading Republican lawmakers, the answer would seem to be no.
Congressional Republicans are even considering a law to formally put ex-presidents above the law.
In America and Korea, former presidential candidates, one conservative (Trump) and one progressive (Lee) are both under investigation for alleged crimes against the public. In both countries, the legislative bodies controlled by the respective politicians’ parties are acting to slow or stifle the course of prosecution.
Korea didn't explode into unrest when its criminal presidents were thrown in jail. The whole process of impeaching Park brought many people together and showed democracy can work. According to Hawon Jung’s book Flowers of Fire, it motivating many to get involved in feminist movements and other social causes. (Park's supporters rallied with taegukgi flags outside City Hall and decried the prosecution as a war on liberal democracy; presidents Moon and Yoon have both been called dictators; such is democracy in a free country.)
Wouldn't it be more dangerous and destructive to democracy to let presidents get away with crimes?
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