Kang Min-jin, Youth Justice Party Leader, "Candlelight Government Collapses Before Chaebol Power"

"Will Set a 2021 Precedent of Unequal Justice"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Kang Min-jin, leader of the Youth Justice Party, evaluated the decision to grant parole to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong as a "criminal contradiction," stating, "Repeating the 1988 pattern of 'justice for the rich, injustice for the poor,' and justifying the decision by referring to the 21st-century global economic environment is a criminal contradiction."

On the 9th, Kang held a 'Press Conference Condemning the Parole Decision for Lee Jae-yong' in front of the Gwacheon Government Complex, saying, "The rule of law has been trampled by money."

Kang criticized, "The candlelight government collapsed before the power of the chaebols," adding, "In our fight to protect the democratic republic against the Samsung Republic, the democratic republic of Korea was insulted. Today's parole decision for Lee Jae-yong carries that meaning." She continued, "The essence of this decision is that the Moon Jae-in government, born from the candlelight protests, ultimately succumbed to the Samsung conglomerate involved in the state affairs manipulation scandal," and said, "Lee Jae-yong's parole is a decision that completely denies the foundation of how this government was born."

She strongly criticized, "Now, the Moon Jae-in government is neither a candlelight government nor a reform government. It has crossed the point of no return."

Kang pointed out, "'If you have money and power, parole is a given, and you can think of the sentence as only about half served.' The parole system has now been tainted like this. This is the responsibility of this government."

She also said, "President Moon Jae-in's grand promise that 'opportunities will be equal, processes will be fair, and results will be just' was revealed as a blatant lie through this grand operation to rescue Lee Jae-yong from prison," adding, "In the past 10 years, less than 1% of inmates who had served less than 70% of their sentences were released on parole. The claim that anyone meeting the criteria should be eligible for parole was used solely to get Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong out of prison."

Furthermore, she added that the process was also unfair. She said, "The correctional authorities completed the preliminary parole review for Lee Jae-yong carelessly without even going through the prior opinion inquiry procedure," and stated, "No citizen other than a chaebol could have such a strong backing."

Regarding the ruling party, she criticized, "The Democratic Party of Korea, which either fanned the flames of the parole debate for Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong or, despite opposing it, was too busy watching the atmosphere to properly express their opinions, has no right to talk about justice."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.