China News Service, December 24. According to Yonhap News Agency on the 24th, citing the core of South Korea’s ruling camp, former President Park Geun-hye has been included in the Moon Jae-in government’s amnesty list, and the news has attracted much attention.
The South Korean government generally announces the amnesty list at the end of the year. There is no Park Geun-hye name in the amnesty list since Moon Jae-in took office. Korean media believe that this year may be due to the deterioration of Park Geun-hye’s health.
If Park Geun-hye receives an amnesty, it may become a huge focus that will shake the pattern of South Korea's general election next year.
Data map: Park Geun-hye.
Or due to worsening health
In a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency on the 24th, a core person in the South Korean ruling camp also said that as far as he knows, former President Park Geun-hye has been included in the Moon Jae-in government’s amnesty list.
The person also said that former prime minister Han Mingshu will also be pardoned this time.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Ministry of Justice once held a negative attitude towards pardoning politicians, but President Moon Jae-in may have made the above decision because of considerations such as Park Geun-hye’s health.
In the fifth amnesty after the Moon Jae-in government took office, if the pardon for Park Geun-hye is finally confirmed, she will end her detention life in 4 years and 9 months.
In June of this year, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye's confidant Choi Jue-won was reported to have sent a letter to the current President Moon Jae-in requesting the pardon of Park Geun-hye.
In the letter, Choi appealed to Park Geun-hye to "have been detained for more than 4 years" and "hoped to amnesty for her so that she can spend her at home when she is exhausted physically and mentally."
But South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s previous attitude has always been that two factors must be considered when pardoning former President Park Geun-hye. One is the consensus of the whole people, and the other is conducive to national unity.
However, Park Geun-hye's health has deteriorated recently, and she has been hospitalized three times this year due to illness.
At the beginning of the year, she was admitted to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital for 20 days due to close contact with confirmed cases of the new crown. In July this year, she went to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment due to shoulder rehabilitation and low back pain. In late November, she was diagnosed with kidney disease. Sent to Samsung Seoul Hospital for hospitalization.
It is also reported that in addition to shoulder and lumbar diseases, she has recently received treatments such as dentistry and mental health medicine.
Sentence to 2039
Park Geun-hye was impeached in March 2017 and lost judicial immunity due to the scandal involving “trustees in politics”. He was detained in a detention center on the 31st of the same month.
On January 14, 2021, the South Korean Supreme Court made a final judgment in the case of Park Geun-hye’s “confidential involvement in politics” and the case of accepting bribes, sentenced Park Geun-hye to 20 years in prison, fined 18 billion won, and recovered 3.5 billion won.
According to South Korean "Criminal Law", fines must be paid within 30 days from the day the sentence is determined.
In addition, Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 2 years for violating the public office election law. Currently, Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Park Geun-hye has been detained since March 31, 2017. If the remaining sentence is fully served, she will be released in 2039 at the age of 87.
Or affect the general election pattern
In addition, with the news that Moon Jae-in may pardon Park Geun-hye, changes in the general election pattern in South Korea have also attracted much attention.
The presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of South Korea, Lee Jae-Ming, pointed out the necessity of pardoning former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye earlier this month: “The time is too early. These people have no repentance, no reflection, and no apology to the people.”
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency last month, Yoon Seok-yue, the presidential candidate of the National Power Party, the largest opposition party in South Korea, said: “For national unity, the two former presidents will be pardoned in the early days of the ruling party.”
At present, the support ratings of the two main candidates are about the same, and the gap has not been widened. There are still many uncertainties about who will win the general election next year.
And Park Geun-hye's amnesty has become a factor for voters to judge the two candidates.
Big ups and downs
From South Korea’s first female president to inmates to possible pardons, Park Geun-hye’s life has truly experienced ups and downs.
In 1952, Park Geun-hye was born as the eldest daughter of former South Korean President Park Jung-hee.
From a young age, she has been intrigued by national events through family activities such as "dinner table talks".
In 1974, Park Geun-hye graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Sogang University in South Korea and studied briefly in France.
But at the age of 22, the assassination of her mother changed Park Geun-hye's life, and Park Geun-hye assumed the role of acting as the "first lady".
Five years later, her father was assassinated again and the family was broken. She and her younger siblings left the Blue House.
In 1997, Park Geun-hye, who had been dormant for nearly 20 years, returned to politics during South Korea’s economic depression; it took 15 years to become South Korea’s first female president.
But in March 2017, at the end of another 20 years, Park Geun-hye was impeached and stepped down. After that, he suffered successive "political betrayals" and was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Now, if she is pardoned, she will be able to greet her freedom with her body tortured by illness when she is nearly 70 years old.
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