On the 14th, the Supreme Court confirmed a sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of 18 billion won to former President Park Geun-hye. The Saenuri Party is scheduled to be released in March 2039 with 22 years in prison, plus a two-year sentence for intervention. The conservative press once again demanded pardons for two former presidents. The public’s power said on the 14th that “we take the court’s ruling seriously” and made a comment without a single word for “pardon,” but the media is a fuss.
In an editorial on the 15th, the JoongAng Ilbo said, “The fact that Park’s older brother was finally decided means that he was the subject of pardon.” “No matter how the Blue House and the opposition parties respond in principle, the pardon as long as Park’s older brother is confirmed. The controversy will not subside.” The newspaper further argued that “as the two former presidents were repeatedly imprisoned at the same time as in former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo 24 years ago, voices of concern about nationality are increasing.”
In an editorial on Jan. 2, the Chosun Ilbo also said, “Political evaluation and legal punishment have been sufficiently imposed on the two former presidents. He argued that the time has come to think in terms of nationality as to what can mean for prolonged imprisonment.” The legal punishment is enough to come out after filling the sentence. What is the basis that those who received 20 years imprisonment and 17 years imprisonment received sufficient legal penalties? Is it the national qualification that allows criminals to come out without completing their sentences? Is it a national qualification for the former president to make exceptions to the rule of law? If we release former presidents from prison, will their national status rise? It is an obvious misuse of’nationality’.
In an editorial on the same day, the Dong-A Ilbo argued, “Former President Lee Myung-bak was also sentenced to 17 years in prison and a fine of 13 billion won.” “The pardon is not something to be done while looking at the public opinion polls, but that the president will decide at the level of sovereignty.” According to a weekly poll released by Gallup Korea on the 8th, 54% said they opposed the special pardon of the two former presidents, and 37% said yes.
The Dong-A Ilbo said, “It is also hard to put an apology and reflection on the premise of pardoning the former president. The former president, who was imprisoned, was sufficiently politically humiliated,” and pressured President Moon, saying, “The pardon for the former president depends on the president’s will for national unity.” The JoongAng Ilbo also argued that “unless the President makes a specific position, the confusion and division of national opinion will increase as much as that period.” The current situation is described as’confusion, division’ and the pardon as’integration’. Of course, such a frame is also unfounded.
Historically, on December 22, 1997, after the pardon of two former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, which was agreed by President Kim Young-sam and President-elect Kim Dae-jung, we cannot but ask whether the Korean society has taken the path of unity. The defense forces supporting the military dictatorship still criticized President Kim Dae-jung and the democratic forces as’reds’, and the 1980 Gwangju massacre victims and their families were again injured. Even today, public opinion about Chun Doo-Hwan still exists. I would like to ask what was the result of positive integration.
The Chosun Ilbo appealed for’recognition’ in the paper on the 15th. The newspaper said, “Former President Park, who was imprisoned in the Seoul Detention Center, is known to receive outpatient treatment at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital twice a week due to increasingly deteriorating health. It is reported that shoulder pain has spread to the neck and lower back recently,” said Seo Cheong-won, a former Saenuri party lawmaker, saying, “Now the president must decide to pardon even from a humanitarian perspective.” Following the words of the Korean Republican CEO Won-jin Cho, he said, “I heard that it often rains.” Earlier in the editorial on the 2nd, the Chosun Ilbo emphasized that “the issue of amnesty should be made by the president only from the humanitarian perspective and from the perspective of national integration.”
If the president responds negatively to the ex-president’s pardon at an upcoming New Year’s press conference, it is highly likely to criticize the president as having no recognition or mercy, saying, “I am trying to confine myself even though I have given enough humiliation to a person who is not in good shape.” . Of course, there is no correct answer that President Moon can choose. Even if they respond positively to the pardon, they will criticize that they use the pardon card as a political calculation method ahead of the re-election in April.
We often’beautify’ the past with the hardship and disappointment in reality. Likewise, the former president’s’mistakes’ are easily forgotten. The title of the Chosun Ilbo editorial on October 26 was’I’m ashamed’. The newspaper wrote, “President Park has now lost the minimum morality to persuade the people, and his authority has collapsed beyond recovery.” “President Park told Mr. Choi not to shake it with groundless suspicions against Gukjeong Nongdan, and he lied to the people even when he apologized to the public for his flag disorder on the 25th,” he wrote. What was different about Park Geun-hye then and today in 2021?
The Chosun Ilbo published last year’s’Chosun Ilbo’s 100 Years’ report on the 2016 Gukjeong Nongdan Incident. “I had to solve the question of whether the forces who committed and neglected Gukjeong Nongdan were conservatives worth protecting.” TV Chosun’s report on Gukjeong Nongdan was a fight against’living power’,” he wrote. In a column on October 25, 2016, Kim Dae-jung, an adviser to the Chosun Ilbo, asked, “If you wrap up President Park, you are patriotic, and if you criticize President Park, are all anti-state and pro-opposition parties?” At the time, it was argued that criticizing Park Geun-hye was a patriotic claim, but the Chosun Ilbo now has to ask if it admits that it is a “conservative worth protecting” enough to have Park Geun-hye’s governmental nongdan power pardon as soon as possible.
Many people remember the pages of the conservative press during the Lee Myung-bak-Park Geun-hye administration. In retrospect, the media was the biggest assistant in the’Lee Myung-bak-Park Geun-hye regime’. However, the media never properly reflected or apologized for reporting their biases and distortions. The’accomplices’ switched to’judges’ too easily. Therefore, we have no choice but to doubt the’qualification’ to put Hunsu. On August 15, 2008, former President Lee Myung-bak gave special pardons to the Chosun Ilbo President Sang-Hoon Bang, Joongang Ilbo President Song Pil-ho, and Dong-A Ilbo Vice President Kim Byung-gun and gave these newspapers a comprehensive programming channel as a gift. Considering that it was MB’s’press-friendly’ for’guarantee of retirement after retirement’, there is no choice but to doubt the’pureness’ of the conservative media asking for amnesty.
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