By Kim Bo-eun
The government granted special pardons for 6,444 people including former lawmaker Chung Bong-ju, Friday. They are the first pardons to be granted by the Moon Jae-in administration.
The pardons were mostly granted for the socially vulnerable. Business tycoons and politicians involved in corruption, as well as those convicted of violent crimes such as murder and rape, were excluded.
Included on the list were migrant workers, elderly and ill convicts, those who are imprisoned with their children and those who committed theft due to harsh living conditions.
Moon earlier pledged to subject business tycoons involved in embezzlement or malpractice to strict penalties and limit pardons for them as a means to put an end to the long-continued practice of excusing chaebol owners.
“The pardons have been granted to alleviate the burden on the working classes who face difficulties due to criminal punishment or administrative measures, and to provide them an opportunity to return to society,” Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said.
Former lawmaker Chung is the only politician on the list. Chung raised suspicions against former President Lee Myung-bak over ownership of BBK, a financial firm involved in an investment fraud scandal, when Lee was a candidate for the 2007 presidential election. Chung was sentenced to one year in prison for violating the election law.
Chung, who completed his sentence and was released in 2012, had been deprived of electoral eligibility until 2022, but it has been restored based on the special pardon.
Also included on the list were 25 tenants of Yongsan District 4 in Seoul, who were part of a violent conflict surrounding a redevelopment project in 2009.
The residents resisted eviction by fortifying themselves on a building rooftop along a busy street. Police attempted a daring raid on Jan. 20, 2009, using a crane to lift a construction crate filled with anti-terrorist riot police to the roof. A fire broke out, killing five evictees and one police officer.
In addition, the government pardoned 1.65 million who are subject to administrative penalties such as the cancellation and suspension of drivers’ licenses as well as fishing licenses, if their livelihoods depend on it.
Those who were found guilty of drunk driving, causing fatal accidents or being involved in reckless driving, were excluded.
Han Sang-kyun, chief of one of the nation’s two largest umbrella unions, who is serving a three-year term for orchestrating a mass anti-government rally under the conservative Park Geun-hye administration in 2015, was excluded from the list.
Also excluded were residents of Jeju Island who faced judicial action for opposing the construction of a naval base there.
Lee Seok-ki, former lawmaker of a now-defunct ultra-progressive party, who is serving a nine-year term for “instigating plots to topple the government,” was also excluded.