By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Special presidential pardons will be granted under stricter screening from now on, according to the Ministry of Justice, Sunday.
The move comes amid criticism that the nation's presidents have abused their right to grant amnesty.
The ministry said that it has come up with detailed ordinances of the Amnesty Law, which was revised on Dec. 21, including setting up a special review committee in March.
When the ministry reports a list of figures who will receive clemency to the president, the committee will examine the charges against them and present its opinion about whether the amnesty is ``proper or not.''
After the pardon or commutation is made, the opinion will be disclosed to the public, the ministry said. Four members of the public will be selected to be on the nine-person committee.
``The measures have come in order to prevent unfair amnesties and secure transparency in special pardons. There has been criticism that presidents have abused the right to give special favors to corrupt high-profile business and political figures despite their serious crimes, and that such treatment disrupts the legal order,'' a ministry official said.
If a president pushes ahead with granting leniency to a figure that the committee has given negative opinion on, he or she will have to face public criticism as the opinions will be made public immediately after the special pardon is given.
The justice minister will appoint the committee members from officials at the ministry or the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, judges, lawyers or law professors. A member will be excluded from the opinion making process if he or she is related to the figures under amnesty review and is unlikely to make a fair decision.
At the end of last year, President Roh Moo-hyun granted special pardons to 75 people, including 21 businessmen and 30 politicians and civil servants. Among them were now-defunct Daewoo Group founder Kim Woo-choong; Halla Engineering and Construction Chairman Chung Mong-won; former Democratic Party leader Hahn Hwa-kap; and Park Jie-won the ex-chief of staff to former President Kim Dae-jung.