[The Editors' Verdict]When I Woke Up, the Cherry Blossoms Had Fallen

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The prosecutor said, "I recently attended a senior colleague's funeral." This senior, whom he had served under as a branch chief during his early years as a prosecutor, was the most respected senior who had passed away early due to a chronic illness. Without being asked, the prosecutor shared an anecdote about that senior.

It was shortly after the prosecutor was assigned to the Special Investigation Division of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office. He visited a senior who was working as a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office along with colleagues from the branch office. That senior had failed to be promoted to chief prosecutor in that year's personnel reshuffle and was set to retire in two days. As soon as the prosecutor opened the office door, their eyes met, and the senior said, "I'm currently investigating someone, so please wait a moment." After waiting for a while until the senior finished the investigation, the prosecutor asked, "What kind of investigation is there for someone retiring the day after tomorrow?"

The senior replied, "No, this is a case I was investigating, so I intend to finish it before I leave." The senior signed the indictment for the last case as a prosecutor on the day of retirement and then left the prosecution office. Reflecting on those old days with his senior, the prosecutor's voice, filled with regret, still lingers in my ears as he said, "He was the one who awakened in me the attitude and sense of responsibility of a public official."

As you might have already guessed, that prosecutor is Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol. Yoon and I first met during the early Kim Dae-jung administration when he was a junior prosecutor in the Special 3 Division of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office and I was a reporter covering the prosecution. Yoon, who uncovered and prosecuted a case involving bribery in apartment management fees implicating a sitting police commissioner general, had a reputation as a 'competent prosecutor.' His superior, the chief prosecutor, even gave him a thumbs-up. After briefly transforming into a lawyer at a major law firm following a friend, he was drawn back to the prosecution by the aroma of jajangmyeon in the investigation office and made a triumphant return, demonstrating his skills in the presidential election fund case and the Hyundai Motor case.

During the early days of the Park Geun-hye administration, when he was investigating the National Intelligence Service's online comment manipulation case?a turning point in his life?he told me, "The essence is that resources meant for national security were diverted for private use." "The prosecution must uncover the truth, and President Park should express regret." Despite facing obstruction from the Blue House, being reprimanded by a Ministry of Justice official with "Well, they say to take it easy, but they don't understand," and being summoned as a witness to the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee, he said, "Someone told me to be hospitalized and not attend the hearing. What about the juniors who trust and rely on me? As a public official, I cannot do that." During that hearing, the phrase "I do not serve people" was uttered. At that moment, 'Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol' may have recalled the attitude and responsibility of a public official personally demonstrated by his respected senior who had passed away early.

The day before the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial, while walking along Yangjaecheon Stream, I saw cherry blossoms falling in the wind. Suddenly, I recalled the retirement words of a public official who left after swallowing words he wanted to say long ago: "I woke up to find the cherry blossoms had fallen. Talking about the past is unmanly. I will disappear like the cherry blossoms."

'President Yoon Seok-yeol' has become an enemy of democracy. The stigma of "betraying the people's trust" against a democratically elected president is a punishment harsher than death. When was the 'human Yoon Seok-yeol's' prime? What if he had never met election strategists who talk about 'the moment of the star'? Although it may be futile, recounting old stories with Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol is a small hope that he might now reflect on the weight of public office and care attentively for his juniors as he once did.

When I woke up, the cherry blossoms had fallen.

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