Former President Park should first make public apology
Seoul's top court Thursday confirmed a 20-year prison term for former President Park Geun-hye, wrapping up years of trials. The verdict came three years and nine months after she was convicted of abuse of power, misappropriating funds from the National Intelligence Service and taking bribes from conglomerates.
This means that, without a pardon, Park should spend 22 more years behind bars given a separate two-year prison term she received for illegally meddling in the nomination of candidates for the Saenuri Party ahead of the general election in 2016.
Park was impeached in 2017. The Supreme Court ruling reignited the controversy over whether to grant special presidential pardons for Park and her predecessor Lee Myung-bak who is also serving a prison term.
Rep. Lee Nak-yon, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), first triggered the dispute by suggesting the need for the pardons for the sake of restoring national unity. Yet President Moon Jae-in has remained silent on the issue so far. Speculation is growing that Moon will clarify his position on the issue during a New Year's press conference slated for next week. But it remains to be seen whether he will actually use his authority to grant the special pardons or not.
Choi Jae-sung, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, indicated a pardon will hinge on public opinion, by saying, “The pardon should be determined in accordance with the people's judgment.” According to a survey conducted by Realmeter on 500 adults across the nation last week 56.1 percent of the respondents believed the proposed pardons would not contribute to national reconciliation. It showed more than half of these respondents believed the two former presidents should publicly apologize to the nation before any pardon is granted.
Moon earlier pledged during his presidential election campaign that he would not offer clemency for those convicted of corruption-related crimes like bribery and embezzlement. His statement came amid disputes that previous overuse of presidential pardons had undermined legal justice and the principle of equality before the law, even though they were conducted in the name of national unity.
Despite the need for Park to extend an apology first as a precondition for the pardon, she has largely failed to show remorse. She has been denying the charges, pleading not guilty, describing her punishment as “political retaliation.” She caught voters off guard ahead of the general election last year by releasing a letter from prison, in an apparent bid to meddle in the election.
She needs to learn a lesson from the U.S. case where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that “No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” while voting to impeach President Donald Trump. Given this, Park should seriously reflect on her past misdeeds and sincerely apologize to the people. Any hasty pardons will only aggravate national division.