Seoul to get tough on legal violations by foreign diplomats

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has set up a new guideline to address
legal violations by foreign diplomats here, prosecutors said Sunday, amid growing
public concern over traffic violations and other illegal activities.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said the new guideline, which calls for Seoul's
Foreign Ministry to notify related governments when their diplomats stationed in
South Korea violate local law, will take effect Monday. Under international law,
foreign diplomats are immune from prosecution in the host country.
Local police handling reports of misconduct or legal violations involving foreign
diplomats will forward the cases to their respective prosecutors' offices, where
they will then be reported to the Foreign Ministry.
Once notified, the Foreign Ministry will make a formal report of the crime
through embassies and diplomatic offices in Seoul to the diplomat's respective
home country. The ministry could possibly request that the diplomat be summoned
or expelled.
The move comes as Seoul is pushing for a more proactive approach to dealing with
cases that involve abuse of the immunity clause under the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations.
According to the National Police Agency, nearly 90 percent of traffic fines
imposed on foreign diplomats, worth some 57.5 million won (US$49,000) over the
past five years, have gone unpaid.
Diplomatic immunity frees ambassadors and other members of foreign embassies from
any form of legal prosecution in the host country. In the case of traffic
violations, local governments have practically no legal means to force foreign
diplomats to pay fines.
"While we acknowledge diplomatic immunity, illegal activities, such as driving
under the influence, have remained persistent. There need to be aggressive ways
to deal with such matters to uphold law and order," an official at the Supreme
Prosecutors' Office said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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