I also often wondered about some Supreme Court's rulings. Some seemed very unjust. Now, we are beginning to find rare evidence revealing the crooked inner workings of the Korean justice system.
It appears that the courts spied on liberal judges in order to get incriminating evidence against them, and influenced rulings to favor the rich and powerful.
Below is a an article about a former Head Justice of the Supreme Court trying to influence a former Korean President through rulings favorable to conservatives (against labor unions, etc.), and favoring conservative judges over liberal ones. The majority of abuses will never become public, so few will know how terrible the situation was and still is, since some of the people involved are still in office.
Kyunghyang News: Influence Peddling in the Judiciary
On the bright side, it's much better now than before.
Before 1980, only Koreans granted permission by the government were allowed to go abroad. Articles critical of Korea in Time and Newsweek were censored. There was a curfew from 12 to 4 in the morning. Police randomly stopped people on the street and searched bags, hassled long haired people, and those wearing short skirts. Bribery was common. Alcohol and cigarettes were encouraged on TV, and in real life.
