Court Denies Arrest Warrant for Samsung Heir Lee Jae-yong

**SPEAKER_2** (0:38)
All right, well, it's another day of a lot of breaking developments, including at 4 a.m. this morning, some of the poor reporters who had to wait up until that time to get the dramatic announcement by Judge Cho Hee-yeon that indeed he feels that Lee Jae-yong should not be detained, and he rejected the arrest warrant requested by the special prosecutors. We'll get into that issue. We'll also get an early look at the presidential race, some interesting developments there as well in light of what has been quite fascinating past couple of weeks in Korean politics. Joining us, our good friend from Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies research fellow, Dr. Bong Young-sik. Dr. Bong, thank you very much for joining us.

**Bong Young-sik** (1:22)
Good evening.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:23)
Your initial reaction to this court decision?

**Bong Young-sik** (1:29)
Well, I don't think court was brought up by Samsung. Some people say that this case proves that we are living in the Republic of Samsung, not in the Republic of Korea. But I like to back to differ, because what is important here is that we have to confirm the basic principle of democracy, rule of the law, and everybody should be under the law, and everybody has to play by the same rules. Nobody should regard himself or herself above the law or they are allowed to play by different rules. Look at Choi Soon-shil and other presidents' confidence. They believe that they are above the law, and they believe that they are entitled to play by different rules. But as the outgoing president of the United States, Barack Obama once said in the presidential debate against Mitt Romney in the election of 2012, some people, especially people with power and privilege, mistakenly believe that they are above the law and they are allowed to play by different rules. So court decision should be focused on confirming and enforcing one of these basic principles of working democracy and constitutional order. So we cannot just issue a warrant based upon pent-up emotions in the public or insufficient amount of evidence in the name of catching the bigger fish.
We have to keep on asking ourselves, what is at stake? It is protecting the basic principles of liberal democracy, which has been derailed by current scandals. And the very fact that Judge Cho kept Vice President Lee Jae-yong for 18 hours in detention center house, not prison, but detention house, that means that he was seriously considering all the different angles and the corners of the legal considerations with regard to issuing or rejecting the arrest warrant.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:50)
So, let's, I mean, let's of course give the benefit of the doubt and say that Judge Cho Eui-yeon was really making a heartfelt, sincere decision based on what he interpreted the law to be, and it was a difficult decision. I mean, there are cynics who say these judges usually have the decision in the first 20 minutes, but they have a 12, 13-hour waiting period just to sort of kind of give the appearance that they have been deliberating. That being said, we cannot deny that there is, what Cho Eui-yeon decided is not the be-all and end-all of legal interpretation, because there is a serious debate even among expert legal analysts aside, obviously we're not legal analysts, who do have differing views on whether that evidence, which you said he deemed insufficient, was sufficient, and obviously the special prosecutors felt it was sufficient, but that is now water under the bridge. The next question though leads to is, as you well know, people like Choi Tae-won have been sort of very nervous, jittery about this court decision regarding Lee Jae-yong, because they felt it was going to be the first domino to fall. Do you feel they breathe a sigh of relief now, thinking that the special prosecutors won't be able to put them behind bars?

**Bong Young-sik** (5:06)
Maybe, maybe not, because the first domino did not fall. That means that SK or the Lotte might think that they might be the first domino to fall. So feeling additional pressure, right? The special prosecutors office failed to arrest the Samsung's, Mr. Lee Jae-yong of Samsung. Then it is likely that the prosecutors office would strengthen their investigation in order to make a stronger case with regard to the alleged bribery between the Blue House and those corporations. So I don't think they are really breathing sigh of relief, but they're diligently preparing for their turn. And the second point is that we have to remember that the rejection to issue the arrest warrant of Mr. Lee Jae-yong does not mean that he has received from the court not guilty verdict. Right? This is just the arrest warrant.