[Viewpoint] Prosecutor Personnel and Democracy

It has already been nearly two years since I retired after working as a prosecutor for almost 30 years. When I met senior and junior colleagues who had retired while I was still in office, they unanimously said that the best thing about retirement was "not having to worry about personnel matters." After I stopped being a prosecutor, there have been many changes, but among them, being free from the annual personnel reshuffles is the best. Prosecutors have a certain standard called regional rotation duty, but they have to move somewhere every year, and until the announcement, they have no idea where they will be transferred, so personnel matters were a matter of utmost concern while working as a prosecutor.

What does personnel mean to public officials? A senior prosecutor who was doing very well once said, "When working in important positions, you often have to suppress physiological needs and handle urgent tasks, which often leads to visits to the urology clinic." I wondered, "What kind of position is so good?" but from the perspective of a public official, it is understandable. For public officials, for whom honor is the most important, who does not harbor the 'blue sky dream' of wanting to play a good role for the country and the people? So much so that there is even a bitter saying, "A public official who has given up promotion (Seungpoja) is fearless." It is questionable whether giving up ambition for promotion or position means one will serve the country and the people with conviction and to the best of their ability, and from experience, it is actually not the case.

Cho Hee-jin, Chief Attorney at Dambak Law Firm

These days, the country is noisy because of prosecutors as public officials. Books like "Prosecutor Civil War" and "Prosecutor Side Story" are popular, and movies and dramas that sensationally portray prosecutors as a kind of deviant who crosses corruption lines have become almost clich?, but even more intense real situations are unfolding before our eyes. Regarding the investigation of the same case, the country has been split into two, with one side defending the so-called "righteous prosecutors investigating the living power," and the other side criticizing prosecutors for politically and biasedly overstepping their authority.

What is the real cause underlying this division? Prosecutors, the Prosecutor General, and the Minister of Justice all majored in law and passed difficult exams to contribute to our society with conviction, did they not? Yet, looking at what is happening ahead of the prosecutor personnel reshuffle, one cannot help but question whether our country is truly a democracy where the rule of law functions properly, and whether the legal professionals in state institutions, who are supposed to know the law well, truly understand democracy and work with a dedication to it.

Democracy, which began in ancient Athens, Greece, is not a perfect system in itself. Plato warned of the dangers of mob rule as a downside of democracy. Like all systems created by imperfect humans, the democratic system itself is imperfect. For democracy to function properly, all citizens must dedicate themselves and make efforts. Western countries, which have refined democracy over thousands of years since its inception, have endured all kinds of irrationalities, serious trial and error, and even wars to protect democracy. It might be nonsense to expect that South Korea, with a democratic history of less than 100 years, will perfectly realize it.

We have taken pride in being a country that achieved democratization and economic development simultaneously in a short period. However, we now face a reality where we question whether democracy is functioning properly. Have we become too complacent, immersed, and settled in the pride of having achieved democratization? Democracy is not a completed product but a process that must be constantly refined, monitored, and corrected to function properly and without problems. The pride of having achieved democratization must now be set aside, and with a humble attitude, every citizen must reflect on whether democracy is being properly practiced and receive democracy education again on how to properly practice it.

Cho Hee-jin, Representative Attorney, Law Firm Dambak

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.