Special Pardons for Kim Kwan-jin and Kim Ki-choon... Park Soo-hyun: "Is State Manipulation and Comment Operation a Routine? Weak Justification"

President Yoon Announces 980 Special Pardon Recipients on the 6th
Kim Geun-sik: "Elderly Individuals... Will Not Engage in Politics Again"

Former Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin and former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun, along with other high-ranking officials from the previous administration, have been included in the special pardon list for the Lunar New Year, prompting criticism from opposition parties that the decision is inappropriate. The ruling party emphasized that the pardon is focused on unity.

On the 7th, Park Soo-hyun, former Blue House Chief of Public Communication, appeared on KBS Radio's 'Jeon Jong-cheol's Jeonggyeok Sisa' and said, "The president's pardon power should be used very restrictively." He added, "Government officials have explained the pardons of former Minister Kim and former Chief of Staff Kim as 'people punished for acting according to precedent,' but how can state manipulation and comment manipulation be considered precedent?" He argued, "This reflects the thin justification for the pardon." He continued, "Will the fairness and principles that President Yoon promised to the people be proven by this? Why are only those individuals the subject of unity? Exercising the right to request reconsideration (veto power) on the special law for the victims of the Itaewon tragedy while talking about unity is inappropriate."

Former Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin (left), who was sentenced to prison for ordering the Military Cyber Command to write 'political comments,' and former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon, who was sentenced to prison in the so-called 'cultural blacklist' case, have been granted a special pardon.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, Kim Geun-sik, the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district committee chairman, said on the same radio program that day, "It signifies the political closure of the state manipulation incident," and argued, "Claims that the pardon has political intentions or bias are excessive political attacks."

Kim explained, "If we interpret it politically, it is President Yoon Seok-yeol's embrace and unity toward the traditional conservative forces centered in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK) and supporters of former President Park Geun-hye," adding, "Also, the pardons of businesspeople and those engaged in livelihoods related to the economy should be seen as an effort to inject vitality into the economy." He continued, "Former Minister Kim and former Chief of Staff Kim are elderly and not planning to return to politics," and said, "Among those pardoned, there will be no one who immediately applies for our party's nomination and causes controversy."

Earlier, President Yoon decided to grant special pardons to about 450,000 people for the Lunar New Year. The president said the day before, "Although five businesspeople and seven politicians are included in this pardon, the main focus is on revitalizing the livelihood economy," and added, "We will specially reduce administrative sanctions on driver's licenses and promote reductions of various administrative sanctions on food service operators, livelihood fishermen, and passenger and cargo transport operators."

This is the fourth pardon under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. The pardon list included 980 people, including former Minister Kim, former Chief of Staff Kim, and Choi Jae-won, Senior Vice Chairman of SK Group. Former Minister Kim was sentenced to two years in prison in October last year in the retrial of the 'Military Cyber Command political comment' case, and former Chief of Staff Kim was sentenced to two years in prison last month in the retrial for creating and excluding support for a blacklist of cultural and artistic figures during the Park Geun-hye administration.

The Ministry of Justice stated in a briefing, "By pardoning former key public officials punished for performing their duties under past wrongful practices, politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, and media executives who have served as journalists for a long time, we aim to overcome conflicts and promote national unity through reconciliation."

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