South Korea senior prosecutor indicted for bribery News
South Korea senior prosecutor indicted for bribery

Jin Kyung-joon, a senior prosecutor in South Korea, was indicted on charges of bribery Friday. Jin has been accused [WSJ report] of accepting more than USD $11 million from an executive at the online-game company Nexon [corporate website] during collusive stock transactions over a nine-year period. Jin is the highest ranking official in recent history to face a corruption scandal. He is a vice-ministerial level official.

Jin’s arrest [JURIST report] follows recent news of corruption investigations taking place worldwide. Earlier this month a federal judge in Buenos Aires froze [JURIST report] the assets of former Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who was charged with conspiring to sell USD $17 billion in futures contracts using an inflated dollar value for the country’s own currency. Also this month a Chinese court sentenced [JURIST report] a former president’s top aide to life in prison after finding him guilty of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power. Last month the Supreme Court of the Maldives upheld [JURIST report] the 13-year prison sentence of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism-related charges.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Indian National Congress founded

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on December 28, 1885 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In subsequent decades, the so-called Congress Party would advocate for Indian independence from the UK, which was eventually achieved in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected as a member of the INC. Learn more about the history and founding of the Indian National Congress.

Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance

On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools. The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing.

Nepal ends monarchy, establishes republic

On December 28, 2007, the Kingdom of Nepal's interim parliament ended the country's monarchy and established the Republic of Nepal. Free elections were held on April 10 of the following year to elect a Constituent Assembly.

Learn more about the rise of democracy in Nepal.