Lesson from Cho Kuk case

Time to end division, seek national harmony

The brouhaha over new Justice Minister Cho Kuk appeared to end as he announced his resignation Monday. The announcement came 35 days after President Moon Jaein named Cho to lead the Ministry of Justice despite corruption allegations surrounding him and his family.

Moon should not have pressed ahead with Cho's appointment because more than 50 percent of Koreans were against it. More than anything else, Cho's hypocritical behavior contradicted Moon's much-avowed promise to usher in a fair and just society with everyone enjoying equal opportunities.

The Cho family has been dogged by allegations about admissions fraud, dubious investments in a private equity fund and operating a school foundation in an improper way. A criminal trial of his wife Chung Kyungsim, a Dongyang University professor, is scheduled to begin Friday on charges, including the fabrication of an award certificate from her university to help her daughter gain admission to a medical school.

Moon picked Cho, one of his most trusted aides, to push for prosecution reform. Last week, the embattled minister announced a blueprint to reform the elite law enforcement agency. Its aim was to reduce the prosecution's unrestricted investigative authority to prevent it abusing its power and to protect the human rights of criminal suspects. on Monday he also disclosed follow-up measures to shut down the prosecution's special investigation departments to bar them from wielding excessive power over high-profile corruption cases.

As Cho said, his role as justice minister has come to an end with the announcement of the reform package. Of course, there are still a lot of things to do to complete the reform of the prosecution, which are ultimately aimed at ensuring the agency's neutrality and independence from political power.

Regrettably, Cho's appointment has divided the nation sharply, pitting progressives against conservatives. Cho's supporters and opponents held massive candlelit rallies to save him or call for his resignation. The liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea has been locked in a deeper confrontation with the main conservative Liberty Korea Party.

Now it is time to leave the confrontational politics behind and start anew to embrace each other for political unity. In this context, Moon did the right thing to apologize publicly for causing the conflict over his appointment of Cho. Now Moon must reaffirm his commitment to the value of equality, fairness and justice to make our society a better one to live in.

We Koreans must learn a painful, but valuable lesson from the Cho case. Double standards and hypocrisy cannot work anymore. The ruling elite should apply stricter moral and ethical standards to themselves. Otherwise, they cannot claim the high moral ground. Nor can they keep their legitimacy in pushing for the elimination of the accumulated evils of our society after former President Park Geunhye was ousted in a massive corruption scandal.

The Moon administration and the ruling party need to humbly accept the people's aspiration for democracy. The administration should end its self-destructive partisan struggles and political bickering with opposition parties. It is time for the rival parties to work together to heal the wounds of the division and seek national harmony.