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Han Duck-soo, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s pick for prime minister, removes his mask to speak at a press conference on April 3 at the office of the presidential transition commission in Seoul’s Tongui neighborhood. (pool photo)

Though easily observed, we keep pretending it doesn’t exist. South Korea is a country where lobbyists aren’t officially a thing. It’s the only OECD member country that prohibits lobbying by third parties. But how many people really believe that that’s the case?

Former high-ranking public officials are oftentimes hired as advisors, specialists, and executives of big law firms and major domestic and international corporations. Around the time important positions in the Cabinet or the Blue House need to be filled, those very individuals return to public office through a revolving door, taking over various high-ranking government posts yet again.

Many of the people tapped to be Cabinet members under the incoming administration previously worked in major law firms. Even Han Duck-soo, Yoon’s prime minister nominee, worked as an advisor for Kim & Chang, South Korea’s biggest law firm, for 4 years and 4 months — he received a total of 1.97 billion won for his service. While professing meritocracy, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is turning a blind eye to conflicts of interest and ethical shortcomings. The Moon Jae-in administration hasn’t been too different.

These people are lobbyists. Their main job is finding out confidential information. A lawyer who was a partner at a top-ten law firm said, “We expect [lobbyists] to suss out trends within powerful government offices. Companies with pending agendas are curious about what authorities are thinking. That’s because knowing enables them to come up with a plan. As that’s the case, law firms even approach companies with concerns, marketing themselves by saying, ‘We have so-and-so as our advisor this time.’”

The “trial deal” incident, for which even a former chief justice had to stand before the court, was prompted by information obtained by a former public official working for a law firm.

While representing a Japanese company that had committed war crimes for a reparation lawsuit concerning forced labor during the Japanese colonial period, Kim & Chang came by “crucial information” in November 2014: then-President Park Geun-hye had made instructions for measures that would prevent a Supreme Court ruling recognizing the rights of individuals to claim reparations.

Both advisors of Kim & Chang, Hyun Hong-choo — who had served as the South Korean ambassador to the US — and Yu Myung-hwan — who had served as a foreign minister — gathered information concerning the Blue House’s attitude and reported their findings to the law firm. Having obtained the information, Kim & Chang “mobilized” the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sway the Supreme Court toward a ruling favorable for itself.

Laws and enforcement ordinances are sometimes vague. This gray area left to the discretion of public officials is the very space lobbyists thrive in.

This was evident in the case of the Lone Star Funds’ cut-and-run acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank. A private equity fund, the Lone Star Funds didn’t originally qualify to take over Korea Exchange Bank. The enforcement decree of the Banking Act had exceptions, though, which stated that exceptions could be made for “special circumstances, such as the resolution of a failing financial institution.” Though Korea Exchange Bank wasn’t a failing financial institution, authorities interpreted that it qualified for exemption considering latent insolvency, approving the acquisition.

What’s absurd is that the government requested Kim & Chang, which was the Lone Star Funds’ legal counsel, to interpret the enforcement ordinance. The Ministry of Finance and Economy unofficially accepted Kim & Chang’s review statement stating an exception could be made, sending the Financial Supervisory Commission an official document stating the same, requesting it to approve the acquisition. Kim & Chang was both player and referee, in a sense.

Around that time, Lee Hun-jai — who had previously served as deputy prime minister of economic affairs — and Han Duck-soo — who had served as senior presidential secretary for economic affairs — were both working as advisors for Kim & Chang. Was it a coincidence that public servants, typically cautious, moved so boldly?

When lobbyists serve the interests of large corporations and those who can pay up, some people are bound to take losses. The “high-quality information” lobbyists obtain from their former junior colleagues by asking the latter out for dinner is a public good, not something to be used to pursue private interests. Italian political scientist Norberto Bobbio said that democracy makes things visible. When the power of invisible experts like public officials and legal professionals balloons, it casts a shadow on democracy.

Of course, abundant regulations create demand for lobbyists, and avenues through which the public’s stance can be explained to authorities are necessary. But in that case, lobbyists should act with more transparency. Just like the Fair Trade Commission decided in 2018, the system that requires public servants to submit detailed reports about their dealings with outsiders should be strengthened.

The bare minimum check on such behavior should be to prohibit people from returning to public office immediately after working as lobbyists. Lobbyists are able to receive hundreds of millions of won in salaries because they tell corporations what’s going on in government and do them favors. Current government officials may conduct themselves in an upstanding manner, but they’re also afraid that lobbyists may return as ministers and vice ministers and become their superiors.

In 2014, New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Park Young-sun proposed the so-called “Revolving Door Prevention Law.” The bill would have prohibited former first-class civil servants from being appointed to key government posts like prime minister, minister, and the director of the National Tax Service within 2 years of working for a law firm, but ultimately it was not passed. The public would applaud the Democratic Party if it used its 172 seats in the National Assembly to legislate laws like it.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]