hankyoreh

Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon leaves his office at the National Assembly on Jan. 3 after a meeting to discuss pardoning former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap News)

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party said on Jan. 3 that it would follow the wishes of party members and the Korean public in regard to the possibility of pardoning two former presidents who are currently in prison. “A national consensus and repentance from the former presidents are both crucial,” a party spokesperson said.

Party leader Lee Nak-yon’s earlier suggestion that Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye should be pardoned triggered a backlash from party members and supporters, causing the party to moderate its position by emphasizing that repentance was a precondition for issuing pardons.

Choe In-ho, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said during a press briefing at the National Assembly on the afternoon of Jan. 3 that Lee Nak-yon and other members of the party’s leadership had reached that position during a closed-door meeting.

Choe explained that the Supreme Council members understood that Lee Nak-yon’s comments about giving pardons “derived from his sincere desire for national unity.” The members of the Supreme Council, Choe said, “agreed to respect the wishes of the public and party members going forward.”

“The Supreme Council members are committed to working for both unity and reform, carrying on the spirit of the candlelight protests,” Choe added.

“The most urgent tasks that we face right now are overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and bringing about an economic recovery,” Lee Nak-yon said when reporters asked him about the pardon proposal after the meeting.

“I believe that Koreans need to work together if those goals are to be achieved. We need to move beyond a partisan politics of animosity and conflict and develop a politics of public unity. I was just sharing my sincere thoughts on that subject.”

During a New Year’s press interview, Lee had said he would bring up the idea of pardoning the two former presidents with President Moon Jae-in, which triggered pushback from inside the party. Woo Sang-ho, a Democratic Party lawmaker, objected that neither Lee Myung-bak or Park Geun-hye had ever offered a clear apology for their actions.

A petition against the pardons on the Blue House’s message board collected more than 50,000 signatures within just three days.

By Song Ho-jin, staff reporter

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