There is no doubt that the judiciary should have the highest ethical standards. The corruption scandal involving the founder of the Nature Republic cosmetics firm shows that it is not the case in Korea.

Prosecutors are investigating a senior judge who allegedly kept suspicious ties with Jung Woon-ho, the central figure in the scandal that has already sent a former senior prosecutor and a former senior judge into custody.

Prosecutors said the senior judge, with the help of a plastic surgeon who acted as a middleman between him and Jung, took what are suspected to be bribes from the businessman on several occasions. 

Investigators who combed through the suspects’ financial transactions found that suspicious money went from Jung to the judge. They, along with the surgeon, took overseas travels together, at the expense of the rich businessman jailed for illegal gambling and attempts to buy a lighter punishment by paying off former and incumbent judges and prosecutors.

There are more examples: the judge took over an imported car that had been used by Jung and his daughter won the top honors in a beauty contest sponsored by Jung’s firm.

Now the judge, who went into a leave of absence for six months, says that Jung -- through the surgeon -- did ask him to help with trials but that he did not contact his fellow judges regarding the case. This sounds little convincing.

As a matter of fact, Jung, who scattered huge amounts of money to buy influence from judges, prosecutors and attorneys, got his one-year prison sentence reduced to eight years by the appeals court. 

Investigators should get to the bottom of the case and find out who else from the court and the prosecution played into the hands of the corrupt businessman and his counsels. 

What’s more important is that this may not be an isolated case. The scandal should awaken the judiciary -- more specifically the Supreme Court -- to devise measures to ensure this nation’s bench is free from corruption so that the rule of law is strictly abided by.