Former Supreme Court justice Kwon Soon-il / Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-suk

By Lee Hyo-jin

Former Supreme Court justice Kwon Soon-il has drawn strong backlash from the Korean Bar Association over his application for a lawyer license. The association viewed it inappropriate for the retired justice, who is undergoing probes linked with a previous verdict in favor of opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung.

The bar association once again urged the 63-year-old former justice voluntarily to withdraw his application, Tuesday, considering the ongoing prosecutors' probe surrounding him.

"Opening a law firm at this point in time would lead to public criticism throughout legal circles," it said in a written letter to Kwon. It had sent a similar letter at the end of October calling on him to retract his decision to obtain the license following the application made on Sept. 26, which Kwon did not respond to.

Under Korea's Attorney-at-law Act, the bar association may refuse to grant membership to applicants who have been subject to criminal prosecution or those who have been suspended or retired due to criminal convictions. But Kwon does not fall into any of these categories, as he has so far not been formally indicted on any charges.

Thus, if Kwon does not withdraw his application, the bar association will be required to grant membership to him by the end of December.

The former justice, who was appointed in 2014 by ex-president Park Geun-hye and retired in 2020, has been speculated to have delivered a favorable ruling to the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) chief Lee in return for a post-retirement job.

In July 2020, the Supreme Court sent back to the high court the appeals trial of Lee when he was Gyeonggi Province governor, in which he was charged with spreading false information about the hospitalization of his brother ahead of the gubernatorial elections. The high court had found him guilty and ordered him to pay a fine of three million won, jeopardizing his political career.

At the retrial, the court overturned its previous verdict and acquitted Lee. After the ruling, which cleared him of all charges, Lee's political career gained further momentum.

Kwon has been suspected of playing a decisive role in the Supreme Court trial by presenting a not-guilty opinion in his deciding vote, which some claim was in exchange for personal benefits.

After leaving the Supreme Court bench in September of that year, he was appointed as an advisor of Hwacheon Daeyou Asset Management, a position that earned him a monthly payment of 15 million won. The private asset firm was found to be at the center of the corruption allegations over the development project in Seongnam's Daejang District, which took place when Lee was the city's mayor.

In addition, Kwon was found to have met with Kim Man-bae, the owner of Hwacheon Daeyou, eight times between July 2019 and August 2020.

The former justice was later alleged to have been a part of the "5-billion-won club," a list of influential people to whom the asset firm and other private businesses involved in the development of Daejang-dong had promised money in exchange for business favors in the area. Former ruling People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, former special prosecutor Park Young-soo and former Prosecutor General Kim Soo-nam are also on the list.