How to behave just like two peas in a pod

In a meeting, President Moon Jae-in and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung deplored the prosecution’s use of its authority to indict as “a weapon and a means for political retribution.”

In their rare meeting at former President Moon Jae-in’s residence in South Gyeongsang on Sunday, Moon and majority Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung deplored the prosecution’s use of its authority to indict as “a weapon and a means for political retribution.” The chorus came after Lee attacked the prosecution for looking into the deepening suspicions about the former president’s family. Both leaders expressed their strong antipathy toward the conservative government after denouncing “an unprepared president for pushing the whole country into chaos.”

But the facts are clear. Moon appointed a former DP lawmaker as the board chair of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency shortly after his former son-in-law was hired as an executive manager of Thai Eastar Jet, owned by the lawmaker, even though he had no experience in the airline business. The prosecution discovered that Moon’s son-in-law had received over 230 million won ($170,915) as his salary and money for staying in Thailand with his wife. The prosecution considers the former DP lawmaker’s recruitment of Moon’s son-in-law as an executive of the low-cost carrier as a bribe for Moon’s promotion of the lawmaker as head of the agency. If so, Moon must explain whether the suspicious connection is true.

Moon’s reiteration of “political retaliation” together with the DP leader without any explanation doesn’t make sense. The former president didn’t comply with the court’s request for preliminary questions even though he vowed to “proudly answer questions from prosecutors.” Moon was named as a suspect during the course of investigations. The DP leader — a defendant in four trials across seven cases — awaits a ruling in his first trial next month on his alleged violation of the Election Act. The governing party ridiculed their get-together as “a joint meeting to defend themselves from their own judicial risks.”

Anyone can criticize the government for wrongdoings. But a former president must first look back on his policy blunders while in office. Moon increased national debt by a whopping 400 trillion won during his five-year term and destroyed the base of our nuclear reactor industry due to his obsession with weaning the country off fossil fuels. Blindly attacking the conservative government without brooding over his own policy mistakes can’t earn sympathy from the public.

National Assembly speaker Rep. Woo Won-shik is no exception. He worried about “people’s deepening concerns about the prosecution” instead of maintaining political neutrality. That’s a very inappropriate stance of the chief of the legislature.

The prosecution also must squarely confront the gravity of the issue. The only way for the law enforcement authority to regain public trust is to swiftly investigate suspicions solely based on evidence.