hankyoreh

By Lee Seung-jun, staff reporter

“Obviously, the illegalities that occurred in the presidential election a year ago were a serious crime, but the bigger crimes are the cover-up, the investigation hampering, and the pressure tactics that we’ve seen under the current administration.”

This was Father Ham Se-woong, speaking in reference to the Park Geun-hye administration’s response to allegations of interference by state institutions in last December’s presidential election by the National Intelligence Service, the Cyber Command and the Ministry of Patriots’ and Veterans’ Affairs. The venerable Catholic priest delivered the indictment while attending the launch of an organization called the Cooperative Alliance, which was held on Nov. 12 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in center Seoul.

Ham, who is well known for his role in the democracy movements against the Park Chung-hee administration as head of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice in the 1970s, was attending as a senior figure from civil society and the religious community.

To underscore the meaning of the alliance’s mission, Ham made reference to a number of historic events in modern South Korean history, including the so-called “April Revolution” in 1960, the 1980 democratization movement in Gwangju, and the June 1987 movement that finally led to adoption of a democratic system.

“We have come together to guard our Constitution and embody its values in the spirit of the March 1 Independence Revolution [against Japan in 1919] and the April Revolution [of 1960],” Ham said.

“We stand here recalling the spirit of the 1980 Gwangju democracy movement and the 1987 democracy movement, holding in our hearts all the righteous people who stood up against iniquitous governments and all the countless candles - hoping, praying, and appealing for this government to repent,” he continued.

“Democracy is in crisis,” he added.

Ham went on to blast the state institutions alleged to have interfered in the 2012 presidential election, and the response by President Park and her administration.

“An election, something that should be supremely fair, was tainted by wrongdoing, and we saw the absurdity of an intelligence agency and the military interfering in a contest that should be left to the people to decide,” he said. “It is something unimaginable in a democratic country.”

He also went after the resignation of prosecutor general Chae Dong-wook, the leader of the investigation into politically biased online posts by NIS agents, and the request for disciplinary action against special investigation team leader and Yeoju Branch Prosecutor’s Office chief Yun Seok-yeol, which he called “targeting” by the administration.

“Look at what this administration is doing,” Ham lamented.

Ham said the eventual resignations of NIS director Nam Jae-joon, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, and Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn were inevitable.

“All they do is conceal the truth and distort the facts,” he said.

Drawing parallels with the Watergate incident that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, Ham said, “The bigger crime was not the eavesdropping, but the attempt to obstruct the investigation and cover things up.”

He also appealed to Park to adopt a different position on the scandal.

“The people in charge of the administration need to return to the spirit of their pledge before the people, and the vow to follow the Constitution at the inauguration ceremony,” he said. “They must regain their humility and apologize before the public.”

He went on to stress the need for a special prosecutor’s investigation. Speaking about the council’s plans, Ham said it would be working for such an investigation and building popular support.

“In forming the alliance, we sought to find the greatest common denominator [among the different participants], and it is their ideas that led us to demand a special prosecutor’s investigation,” he said.

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