"Selection of Subjects Focused on People's Livelihood" ... Including Parties Involved in Social Conflict Cases Such as THAAD Deployment
[Asia Economy Reporters Baek Kyunghwan and Cho Seongpil] On the 29th, the government carried out a special pardon for 3,024 people including small and medium business owners, small merchants, and other livelihood-type criminal offenders, special consideration (disadvantaged) prisoners, and those involved in social conflict cases. This is the fourth special pardon since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, coming one year after the special pardon in December last year targeting general criminal offenders and conscientious objectors to military service.
The special pardon recipients include ▲2,920 general criminal offenders granted special pardon, sentence reduction, or reinstatement ▲52 small and medium business owners and small merchants granted special pardon or sentence reduction ▲25 special consideration prisoners granted special pardon or sentence reduction ▲26 persons related to social conflict cases granted special pardon or reinstatement ▲1 person under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense granted special pardon or reinstatement, totaling 3,024 people.
The government stated that the special pardon was carried out focusing on livelihood and economic recovery and consideration for the lower-income class amid the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The recipients included not only small and medium business owners and small merchants who were punished for economic crimes but had mitigating circumstances, but also prisoners in difficult conditions such as those with infants and couples imprisoned together. Special pardons were also granted for healing social conflicts and restoring local communities. Since the 2020 New Year's special pardon, 26 people related to social conflict cases such as the Jeju Gangjeong Village naval base incident and the Seongju THAAD deployment incident, whose trials were finalized, benefited from the pardon.
Special reductions in administrative sanctions related to driver's licenses were also implemented. A total of 1,119,608 people benefited from point deletions, withdrawal of license suspensions or cancellations, etc. Among them, all penalty points imposed on 1,072,158 people who were assigned penalty points were deleted. For 4,819 people whose driver's licenses were suspended or whose suspension procedures were underway, the remaining suspension period was exempted or the suspension procedure was halted, allowing immediate driving. Additionally, for 44 people undergoing driver's license cancellation procedures, execution was suspended, enabling immediate driving, and 41,902 people who were ineligible to obtain a driver's license due to disqualification periods were allowed to take the driver's license test by lifting the disqualification period. However, even first-time offenders of drunk driving were excluded from the special reduction, and drivers who caused fatal traffic accidents were also excluded to raise awareness and prevent accidents.
◆ 97% of Criminal Offenders Are COVID-19 Special Pardons = Looking in detail at the special pardon recipients, out of the total 3,024 people, 2,920 were general criminal offenders, accounting for 97%. The focus was on alleviating the burden on the lower-income class who suffered livelihood difficulties due to criminal penalties or administrative sanctions, especially amid the spread of COVID-19. The special reduction measures for driver's license cancellations, suspensions, and penalty points benefiting 1.11 million people also support President Moon's intention to pardon livelihood-type offenders.
Among general criminal offenders, murder, robbery, organized crime, sexual violence, and bribery were all excluded. Instead, 2,295 offenders violating 10 livelihood-related administrative laws such as the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling, Road Traffic Act, and Fisheries Act had the effect of their sentences nullified, and various qualification restrictions such as executive disqualification and public official appointment restrictions were lifted. Model prisoners with good behavior and low risk of recidivism, who were under suspension of sentence execution due to severe illness or had difficulty in normal imprisonment life, were also pardoned.
Another feature of this pardon is the large inclusion of small and medium business owners and small merchants. Included were 52 economic crime prisoners who had accumulated debts due to business downturns after operating their businesses normally for a long time or who used the damage amount for business purposes rather than personal use. The government said, "By actively discovering and pardoning small and medium business owners and small merchants, they can recover and contribute to the livelihood economy recovery."
◆ Election Offenders and Businesspeople Excluded = In the third special pardon last December, President Moon included general criminal offenders, conscientious objectors to military service, and election offenders such as former Gangwon Governor Lee Kwang-jae, former Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak No-hyun, and former Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Chairman Han Sang-gyun. The large-scale special pardon for election offenders was the first in nine years since 2010.
However, this time, President Moon did not include politicians, election offenders, large conglomerate heads, or businesspeople in the special pardon. Since his presidential campaign, President Moon has declared a principle to restrict the exercise of pardon rights for anti-corruption criminals and market-disturbing actors. During the presidential election, he defined bribery, solicitation, acceptance of solicitation, breach of trust, and embezzlement as the five major serious corruption crimes and pledged to restrict pardon rights for offenders of these crimes. He also pledged not to exercise pardon rights for market-disturbing acts such as stock manipulation.
Businesspeople, as well as high-profile figures such as former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook and former lawmaker Lee Seok-ki, who were the main focus of this pardon, were excluded. The pardons for former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, demanded by the conservative camp, were also excluded. Former President Lee is serving a sentence after a final verdict, but former President Park is still undergoing trial.
Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae said, "We selected the recipients solely in a direction that helps the livelihood and economic activities of the people and consideration for the lower-income class," and added, "We hope this special pardon will be an opportunity for the people to unite more and overcome difficulties together."
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