The term “trial appeal” is difficult to understand even when read in Chinese character. While not an official legal term, the media’s use of “four-tier trial system” makes it somewhat comprehensible. Currently, the system is a three-tier trial system up to the Supreme Court, but changing it to allow a fourth trial at the Constitutional Court is the idea. The word “appeal” makes it harder to grasp. Yet why do legal professionals, lawyers, and politicians insist on using such obscure terms as “trial appeal” or “constitutional appeal”? Jargon—specialized terminology used within expert groups—is the reason. Even today, courts and hospitals overflow with difficult terms incomprehensible to citizens or patients. While specialization plays a role, simplifying such language could lower entry barriers, threatening livelihoods. French philosopher Michel Foucault explained that power is generated by erecting linguistic barriers to exclude the vulnerable.
Since the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung’s government, law has been at the center of all conflicts. Never before have we seen a government so fond of legal matters. Yet this is not about the rule of law. Dissolving the Prosecutors’ Office, establishing The serious crimes investigation agency and a prosecution office, creating an insurrection trial division and a trial appeal system, and introducing a “law distortion crime” to punish judges and prosecutors—all stem from cases related to the president, such as election law violations, Daejang-dong, and remittances to North Korea. However, even without the presidential factor, a consistent trend exists: expanding the livelihoods of lawyers who sell legal services for profit. This is why the issue must be viewed not as political strife but as a means for lawyers to earn money.
Dragging a case to the Supreme Court typically costs tens of millions to hundreds of millions of Korean won in legal fees. If the desired outcome is not achieved in the third trial, a fourth trial would be sought, increasing lawyers’ fees. Constitutional trials, being different from regular trials, would demand higher upfront and success fees. If one wishes to punish judges or prosecutors for distorting the law, another lawyer must be hired. Every new system is about money and lawyers.
If the Prosecutors’ Office is abolished, the first gate for hiring lawyers shifts from prosecutors or courts to the police. More money would be needed to secure good lawyers from the police stage, with premiums paid for former police lawyers. The legal market expands to police, creating a literal “heaven for lawyers.” The practice of favoring former officials extends from prosecutors and courts to the police. As investigations become more complex—police, The serious crimes investigation agency, prosecution office—legal costs soar. Of course, the wealthy and powerful are unaffected. They can undergo four trials, demand punishment for judges or prosecutors if dissatisfied. The problem lies with ordinary people lacking money or time. Behind the mask of judicial reform lies a “heaven for lawyers, hell for the common people.”
The most entertaining National Assembly standing committee lately is the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Nicknames like “Seo Pal-gye” and “Quack Quack” are thrown around. However, the lawyers dominating this committee are focused on expanding their livelihoods even amid fights. The committee handles the abolition of prosecutors, trial appeals, and the insurrection trial division. Democratic Party lawmakers with judicial backgrounds recently appeared on Kim Ou-joon’s YouTube channel, calling the trial appeal system “becoming a K-legal powerhouse like K-culture” and “not a four-tier system but a new first trial.” They are peddling nonsense about creating a “K-legal powerhouse” when the task was to build a technological stronghold.
China’s technological rise has pushed our once-dominant petrochemical and steel industries to the brink. If this continues, the future of semiconductors and AI cannot be guaranteed. Thus, a consensus is forming that South Korea’s talents should head to engineering schools, not medical schools, and that STEM graduates should be treated exceptionally. President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party have promised this. Yet the president and the National Assembly neglect science and technology, staying up all night over issues unrelated to people’s livelihoods—prosecutors, special counsels, and courts.
Following a prosecutor-turned-president, a lawyer-president’s government prioritizes expanding lawyers’ livelihoods over promoting STEM fields or national industries. Even now, humanities graduates, regardless of major, list law school as their top choice, as it offers stable life through certification. However, if lawyers’ livelihoods keep expanding, the regressive trend of humanities students flocking to law schools and STEM students to medical schools will worsen. While Chinese prodigies research AI in engineering schools, Korean talents create artificial breasts in medical schools. As Indian geniuses rush to Silicon Valley, Korean geniuses make silicon noses—a joke that no longer sounds funny.
