According to a report by South Korea Daily on the 7th, South Korea’s presidential palace is studying a plan to amnesty former President Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. In response, a spokesman for Qingwatai said that the report was not true on the same day.
The report quoted an anonymous person in South Korea’s ruling party as saying: “It is not to pardon the two former presidents at the same time, but to pardon Park Geun-hye; as for Lee Myung-bak, other programs such as probation are not being discussed.
After the Supreme Court’s judgment on Park Geun-hye on the 14th of this month, national opinions will be collected and the final decision will be made by the President.”
Another person familiar with the matter also said: “Park Geun-hye has been in prison for nearly four years on suspicion of cronies and interference in politics; Lee Myung-bak has been released on bail halfway, unlike Park’s situation because of personal misconduct such as bribes and corruption.”
According to South Korea’s KBS TV station on the 6th, the polling agency Realmeter recently conducted an investigation on the pardon of the former president by 500 people over 18 in South Korea.
The results showed that the ratios of yes and against 47.7% and 48%, respectively, which is very close.
According to a Yonhap report on the 7th, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a New Year’s reunion in blue tile platform by video on the same day, defining 2021 as the year of unity.
Moon Jae-in said that people’s unity is particularly important. As long as they respect each other and fight the epidemic and turn the crisis into a turning point, South Korean society can take a step further towards unity.
According to the report, Moon Jae-in’s topic of “unity” was of concern when the political circles were hotly discussing the pardon of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye-hye.
However, it is also believed that Moon Jae-in’s unity does not specifically refer to the unity of the government and the opposition in politics, but emphasizes unity in a broad sense from the overall governance situation.
Kang Minshuo, spokesman of Tsung Watai, said to media reports on the same day that Tsung Wattai had never discussed the so-called amnesty plan of some newspapers.
South Korea has a precedent for pardoning the former president.
In 1997, President Kim Yongsan pardoned former Presidents Quan Douhuan and Lu Taiyu, who were sentenced to death and 22 years and 6 months in prison respectively for rebellion and bribery.
