A society where criticism becomes a crime, and freedom of expression is faltering. Hankyoreh Graphic

It is reported that an ordinary citizen received a summons from the police for sharing a critical post about then-presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung's hotel no-show controversy in a KakaoTalk chatroom. 

The accuser has not even been identified, and the charge is reportedly 'Violation of the Public Official Election Act due to the spread of false information.' 

Rep. Ju Jin-woo expressed his anger, confidently stating "100 percent not guilty," but regardless of the facts, the very fact that such an incident has occurred is shocking. 

Freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy. When citizens are subjected to investigation simply for sharing critical posts about politicians, and the police issue summons, it is an act that seriously threatens fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution. 

This situation strangely overlaps with the recent discussions about prosecutorial reform being pursued by the Democratic Party. 

The reform bill, ostensibly aimed at separating investigation and prosecution, risks concentrating power in the hands of the police and becoming a conduit for branding politically unfavorable expressions or criticisms as 'false information.' 

As lawyer Kim Jong-min pointed out, this aligns with concerns that it could lead to Chinese-style public security rule. 

Korean society professes to be a liberal democracy. 

However, the moment that freedom slips from the hands of the people and into the grasp of political power, democracy becomes hollowed out. 

If prosecutorial reform means silencing the people, then it is no longer reform but regression. 

What is even more concerning is that the ruling party appears to be pushing for legislation that directly contradicts the spirit of the constitution, seemingly with the calculation that the composition of the Constitutional Court is favorable to the current administration. 

The attempt to enact unconstitutional laws by leveraging a majority in the National Assembly and then later presenting them as constitutional is an act that fundamentally undermines democracy. 

This is nothing short of a legislative coup and a seditious idea. 

We must not forget that regimes like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union destroyed freedom and monopolized power not with guns, but with laws and systems. 

A society that prosecutes freedom of expression is not a democratic society. This incident should not be dismissed as a mere trifle. 

What is needed now is a reaffirmation of the constitutional spirit that controls the overreach of power. The last bastion of freedom is always the eyes, ears, and mouths of the people. 

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