The Republic of Korea divides its powers into three parts: legislative, administrative, and judicial. Each part has the task of keeping the others in check. If this separation is not maintained correctly, a dictatorship and/or corruption of public officials can occur easily. That is why the founding of a bureau to investigate the corruption of high-ranking government officials has emerged. The bill has consistently been pursued since the late 1990s, but it was never passed. However, the government is now discussing the bill anew after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.
  The bureau mentioned above is an independent agency that focuses on investigating the corruption of high-ranking government officials and their families. Its purposes are to prevent the prosecution from becoming politically powerful and from becoming an independent institution.
  Even though there is already an independent investigative agency called the prosecution, the prosecution once conspired to commit a crime with some politicians. If the prosecution is not objective in investigating people in the government and behaves in a way that allows for monetary and personal gains, it can destroy the separation of powers too easily. If people are asked about politics, they typically think of words like corruption or words with strong negative images. As such, I suspect that is why the film industry is releasing many films about the corruption of politicians.
  So why does corruption happen in politics? The first reason is political power. If a person has enormous power in political affairs, he can do whatever he wants to do, whether it’s illegal or not, and if no one can stop him, he may think he’s above the law. When people who had no power suddenly have power, they have to use that power according to their due. However, they typically want more power. That can result in the collapse of laws and systems, which can lead to the failure of the separation of powers.
  The second cause of corruption is that personal connections are prevalent in Korean society. Often, even if the institutions have to check each other, secret deals still arise because there are so many of those school ties and blood ties in each institution. Also, some people without connections who seek justice are even ignored. Political relations are not likely to change due to an individual’s actions because they are collectively driven institutions. Therefore, it is not easy for individuals to see things from an objective perspective.
  Finally, there is a strong relationship between politics and business, where financial transactions and corruption occur. Of course, it is proper to utilize the national budget in carrying out state affairs. Also, companies also use their corporate budgets to maintain. However, if political relations change the law for the sake of corporate success, or companies take bribes to intervene in political affairs, it is no longer possible to divide power. Perhaps, if people have a vast amount of capital, I think they can revise and abuse the law at will. Also, people are apt to be misled by such capital. The collusive ties between politics and business can make politicians think that money is above the law and hurt the right virtue they should have.
  The prosecution is responsible for investigating and detecting such corruption cases. Then, what is the agency that investigates the prosecution? I think the new bureau is a solution that comes from the fact that such prosecutors and other high-ranking government officials should be investigated. A prosecution is just a person, and corruption can occur enough. However, if such prosecutors or other agencies have the exclusive power and are not properly checked, the chances are high that they could face problems in the future. Therefore, I think the creation of the new bureau is a reasonable alternative, and although the bill has yet to be passed, there should be an institution that does its part.