Here is some surprising news because the Moon administration had previously said they would not do this:
Former President Park Geun-hye enters Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul in a wheelchair to be treated for an illness, in this July 20, 2021, file photo. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in said Friday that he granted a special pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, currently serving a 22-year prison term for corruption, to bolster national unity and in consideration of her deteriorating health.
Moon said he decided to pardon Park and exonerate former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook because there is “desperate need for national unity and humble inclusiveness,” presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee told reporters.
“In the case of ex-President Park, it was taken into consideration that her health deteriorated a lot because (she) has served almost five years of her sentence,” Moon was quoted as saying by the spokesperson.
Pardoning Park came as a surprise because Moon had ruled out the possibility of granting a pardon to Park.
You can read more at the link, but politically the Moon administration must have felt they had to do this if they wanted to exonerate Han Myeong-sook of corruption. It would have looked hypocritical to exonerate Han for corruption while leaving Park in jail. It is a even a worse look when one considers that Park was sent to jail for the corruption of her friend, Choi Soon-sil who took donations from business conglomerates into two sports foundations that were believed to be bribes for political favors. Choi materially benefited from the donations, but Park never did.
That is unlike Han who received $731,400 from a businessman for political favors. In the spectrum of Korean political corruption this case is actually on the low side, however the case took her out politically. Han has been a good Soldier for many years for the Korean left and the exoneration allows her to return to public life if she so chooses.
The last person remaining that can delay the Korean left’s attempt to completely take over prosecuting powers is Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. The Moon administration is trying to rehabilitate the image of former corrupt Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook by appointing a judge with deep ties to to disgraced former Justice Minister Cho Kuk to look into it. ROK Heads may remember that Cho is good friends with Moon, so it is likely anyone with ties to him will provide investigation results favorable to Han Myeong-sook. Yoon has been delaying the investigation much to the ire of the Korean left:
President Moon Jae-in, center, speaks at the anti-corruption policy meeting at the Blue House on Monday. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, left, was among the participants of the meeting, as well as his rival, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. [YONHAP]
President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged his justice minister and the prosecutor general to stop fighting each other and cooperate to complete reform of the prosecution.
“Last week, the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution each launched task-force teams to protect human rights during criminal procedures,” Moon said during his opening remarks at a Blue House policy meeting that included both top officials. “Since the two powerful organs willingly started the initiatives, they must cooperate with each other and prepare a bold reform measure to make the people feel actual changes.”
Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has been facing growing pressures from the ruling party to step down for his constant discord with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae.
Moon stressed the importance of cooperation as the friction between Yoon and Choo reached a new peak last week amid disagreements over an ongoing investigation into the prosecutors’ handling of a 2010 corruption probe into former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.
On May 29, Yoon reassigned the case to the human rights monitoring office of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The investigation is reviewing prosecutors’ suspected coercion of a witness to testify against Han, and was originally assigned to the more independent and powerful Inspection Headquarters of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
Led by Han Dong-soo, a former judge appointed by Choo’s predecessor Cho Kuk, the Inspection Headquarters has the power to request warrants, conduct raids and detain suspects, unlike the human rights monitoring office. Han Dong-soo has also argued that his team should be in charge of the internal probe.
During a National Assembly hearing last week, Choo said Yoon’s assignment was a mistake. She then ordered the Inspection Headquarters to directly question key witnesses instead of waiting for the human rights office’s findings.
Han Myeong-sook (C), the former prime minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, speaks to reporters at the Seoul Appellate Court on Sept. 16, 2013. The court sentenced her to two years in prison, convicting her of taking bribes from a local businessmen in exchange for business favors. (Yonhap)
![President Moon Jae-in, center, speaks at the anti-corruption policy meeting at the Blue House on Monday. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, left, was among the participants of the meeting, as well as his rival, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2020/06/22/8e402ff4-cbc3-441d-bca4-3069e19dda60.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
