Still, the frequency of criminal indictments of officials in South Korea has contributed to increasing political polarization, with some supporting the punishments as acts of justice and others viewing them as little more than political revenge orchestrated by a new president.
While in office, presidents of South Korea have immunity from criminal indictment except in cases of “insurrection or treason.” Such a clause was pointedly not included in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, which ruled that former President Donald J. Trump is entitled to immunity from prosecution on charges that he tried to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
In Japan, the Constitution grants all members of the Diet, as Japan’s Parliament is known, immunity from arrest while in office, but not from criminal prosecution, Mr. Komamura said. The prime minister, who must be a member of Parliament, is covered under this clause.
One of the biggest scandals of the 1970s in Japan was when former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was indicted on bribery charges for having accepted $1.6 million from Lockheed to arrange the purchase of aircraft by All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline.
Even in countries where there is some immunity for political leaders, it is usually more narrowly defined. In the United Kingdom, where members of Parliament broadly enjoy legal protections from prosecution for political speech, they are not immune from the criminal laws that govern the public.
