Is the ruling party's pardon a 'bad pardon' and the opposition party's pardon a 'good pardon'?
The People Power Party strongly criticized the Lee Jae-myung government on the 11th for granting a special pardon to former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk and former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang. However, it refrained from mentioning the politicians from the People Power Party who were included in this pardon.
Song Eon-seok, the Chairperson and floor leader of the People Power Party, met with reporters at the National Assembly on the 11th and said, "(Former leader Cho and former lawmaker Yoon) have had only about half a year since the final ruling, and they were pardoned before completing even half of their sentence, " criticizing the pardon for ruling party officials.
Chairperson Song stated, "If this is how it's going to be, I find it hard to understand why we are conducting investigations and holding trials," adding, "The president's abuse of pardon powers is causing the judicial system itself to collapse."
However, Chairperson Song avoided answering questions about whether former lawmaker Hong Moon-jong, former lawmaker Jeong Chan-min, and former lawmaker Shim Hak-bong, who were requested by the People Power Party, were included in the pardon. Former lawmaker Hong was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for embezzling 5.2 billion won from a private school foundation while serving as the chairman and receiving a bribe of 47 million won during his time as a lawmaker.
Former lawmaker Jeong Chan-min was sentenced to 7 years in prison for receiving a bribe of 350 million won during his time as the mayor of Yongin. Former lawmaker Shim Hak-bong was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison for receiving a bribe of 100 million won while serving as a lawmaker.
On the same day, the government announced that it would grant special pardons to 836,687 people, including former leader Cho Kuk, effective on the 15th, ahead of the August 15 Liberation Day. Included in the pardon are Cho's wife, former Tongyang University professor Jeong Kyung-sim, and former lawmakers Choi Kang-wook and Yoon Mi-hyang, and former Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon.