The South Korea Korean government on Friday decided to grant a special amnesty to 142 prisoners and ex-convicts next week, sparking criticism from opposition parties and disappointment from business circles, as it includes several confidants of President Roh Moo-hyun but not executives who were expected to be pardoned.
The three confidants are Ahn Hee-jung, Shin Geh-ryoon and Yeo Taek-su, who had been involved with illegal political funds.
Ahn, a longtime confidant of President Roh, was convicted of receiving 6.5 billion won (US$6.7 million) from businesses ahead of the 2002 presidential election. He was released from prison in December 2004 after serving one year, but his electoral eligibility is still restricted.
Shin, a former three-time legislator, was deprived of his parliamentary seat in February after the Supreme Court handed him a two-year suspended prison term for taking 250 million won in illegal political funds from a lender before the 2002 election. He served as the chief secretary of then president-elect Roh that year.
Yeo, a former secretary of Roh, was convicted of accepting illegal political donations from Lotte Group in 2003.
Other politicians to be pardoned include Suh Chung-won, former chairman of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), and former GNP Rep. Kim Won-gil, both of whom were convicted of accepting illegal political funds from businesses just before the 2002 presidential poll.
However, Kim Yong-san, former chairman of Kukdong Engineering and Construction Co., is the only one of the convicted businessmen from conglomerates who will benefit due to old age from the special amnesty, although 17 CEOs from small- and medium-size companies were granted leniency.
Kim Yun-bae, vice chairman of Hanhwa Securities Co., Son Kil-seung, former chairman of SK Group, and two former chairmen of Doosan Group, Park Yong-oh and his younger brother Yong-sung, were not included.
"This year's amnesty excluded businessmen convicted of crimes for personal gain such as embezzlement and capital flight, fraudulent loans and window dressing," Kim Hee-ok, vice minister of the Justice Ministry, told reporters.
Last month, the nation's five economic organizations sent a letter to Roh appealing for the special amnesty of 55 convicted business figures, saying the pardon of the businessmen would help boost the troubled economy. Some ruling party lawmakers also made similar appeals earlier, citing worries over the slowing economy.
The pardon drew criticism from opposition parties.
Rep. Jeon Jae-hee, the GNP's chief policymaker, called it a "destruction of constitutionalism" for the president to add former aides who helped him with illegal political funds to his amnesty.
The party will seek legislation to restrict the president's right to grant special pardons, she said.
The ruling Uri Party cautiously suggested the need to respect the president's decision since the former aides were punished not for personal corruption, but because of old political practices.
"They can be seen, in some aspects, as scapegoats of past political practices," said Moon Myung-ho, a chief policy coordinator of the Uri Party.
Arranged to mark the Aug. 15 Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of Japan's 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in 1945, the pardon also involves the paroling of 750 prisoners and lifting sanctions on about 4,400 construction companies.
Seoul, Aug. 11 (Yonhap News)
Gov't to pardon 142 people on Liberation Day |
