President’s apology

Lee should feel ashamed over brother’s arrest

Lee Sang-deuk, President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother, was jailed early Wednesday morning after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant on bribery charges. He has become the first brother of a sitting president to be arrested in Korean history.

Lee is suspected of receiving 600 million won from the chairmen of two troubled savings banks ― Solomon and Mirae ― from 2007 to 2011 in return for helping them avoid regulatory audits and punishment. He also allegedly took bribes from his former employer, textile manufacturer Kolon Group.

Angry citizens who lost deposits when savings banks were suspended hurled eggs at Lee, a former lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, when he arrived at the court Tuesday. One of them briefly grabbed Lee by the tie, accusing him of playing a role in the string of closures of savings banks over the past two years.

President Lee is expected to offer an apology, given that the arrest of his elder brother is a national shame. Cheong Wa Dae is reportedly agonizing over when and how Lee should apologize, but the prevailing opinion is that the chief executive will do so after his brother is indicted. The apology, if realized, would be the fifth since Lee took office in February 2008 and the third to be offered in relation to wrongdoings involving his relatives.

Lee’s apology could be met with derision because presidential apologies have become a rite every five years owing to corruption charges against presidents’ kin and close confidants. Roh Gun-pyeong, the elder brother of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, was arrested for corruption and before that, the sons of Roh’s predecessors ― Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam ― were also detained on similar charges. The two brothers of Chun Doo-hwan, the general-turned-president, were put behind bars for influence-peddling.

All the blame should be placed on President Lee who failed to deal with his relatives properly. In retrospect, the head of state had several chances to avoid the latest nightmare but he didn’t do what he should have done ― persuade his elder brother to retire from politics.

President Lee had no words to excuse his brother’s arrest and called off his schedule for Wednesday. He should feel ashamed for defining his government as a “morally perfect regime’’ last September.

What can be learned from the latest scandal is that there are big loopholes in the country’s system of overseeing president’s relatives and confidants. At present, the office of senior presidential secretary for civil affairs is tasked with monitoring them, but it turns out that it has not been up to the task. In this respect, the nation will have to consider fundamental ways of stopping the repetition of corruption cases involving the president’s relatives and aides.

Presidential hopefuls from the rival parties should learn lessons from the arrest of the president’s brother. <The Korea Times>

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