South Korea Is Still Having Big Problems With Corruption
Last week, Cho Kuk, the disgraced Justice Minister of South Korea, resigned after a controversial month at the helm and a wave of discontent that spurred nationwide protests. President Moon Jae-in brought in Cho to reform the nation’s prosecution, including improving oversight of investigations, banning excessively long interrogations, and limiting the scope of prosecutors’ direct investigations. But shortly after his nomination, Cho and his family became embroiled in a massive corruption scandal, which proved to be his undoing. Even though Cho is no longer tasked with the leading the Ministry of Justice, his scandal reveals deeper problems within the Moon administration: a commitment to a dangerous policy toward North Korea, strangulation of the free press, and a vendetta against conservative politicians.
To understand how a figure as controversial as Cho could ascend to such a high position in Moon’s cabinet, we need to go back to one of Moon’s early election promises—ridding the country of what he called “deep rooted evils” and to rebuild after the scandal-ridden tenure of previous president Park Geun-hye. Superficially, it was a pledge to eradicate corruption, but it has quickly become clear that he was only referring to the corruption of the opposition party, the Liberty Korea Party (LKP).
In many respects, Cho embodies the very corruption Moon pledged to eradicate. Cho’s own daughter gained admission to a top university after being named first author on a scholarly medical paper upon completing a two-week internship as a high school student. Cho’s wife, a university professor, allegedly forged a college award for her daughter under the name of the university president, helping her gain admission to medical school. A close relative of Cho’s is accused of rigging stock prices, embezzling billions of won, and arranging hefty investments for Cho’s wife and children. And yet, Moon had no qualms in allowing Cho to head the Ministry of Justice, the same agency now investigating his family.
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