[Independence Day Pardon] Yoon's Special Order to 'Revive the Economy'... "The Most Important Thing Is People's Livelihood" (Comprehensive)

- Large-scale pardons including Lee Jae-yong, Shin Dong-bin, Jang Se-ju, and Kang Deok-su
- Aiming to revive public support by improving livelihoods... Encouraging investment and job creation
- Excluding Lee Myung-bak and Kim Kyung-soo from pardons amid negative public opinion and opposition party backlash

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The special pardon carried out by President Yoon Suk-yeol for the first time since his inauguration emphasizes 'reviving the economy' and 'excluding politicians.' In a situation where the public's livelihood economy has become difficult due to the triple hardships of high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates inherited intact after the new government's launch, the message of 'reviving the economy' is being sent, aiming to serve as a turning point to recover the halved approval ratings.

According to a presidential office official on the 12th, President Yoon continued to deliberate for three days to finalize the pardon recipients after the Ministry of Justice's Pardon Review Committee, which selected the Liberation Day special pardon candidates, concluded on the 9th. The official said, "Since this is the first pardon carried out by the new government, it inevitably had to consider the economic, political, and social atmosphere," adding, "Ultimately, it seems that more weight was given to the economic revival that President Yoon has consistently emphasized."

At the temporary Cabinet meeting convened on the morning of the same day at the Yongsan Presidential Office building to review and approve the final special pardon recipients, President Yoon stated, "Through this pardon, we aim to stabilize people's livelihoods and provide opportunities and hope for the recovery of small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, the common people, and the vulnerable in our society," and added, "The pardon recipients and scope were carefully decided by broadly collecting opinions from various sectors to overcome the difficult economy." President Yoon also mentioned to reporters on his way to work that day, "The pardon focused on people's livelihoods and economic recovery."

The pardon recipients finally decided by President Yoon also included a large number of key economic figures who lead the nation's growth engine through technological investment and job creation. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics (restoration of rights) and Chairman Shin Dong-bin of Lotte Group (special pardon), as well as Chairman Jang Se-ju of Dongkuk Steel and former Chairman Kang Deok-su of STX Group, who served prison terms for company-related offenses but were given another chance to participate in economic development, were included in the pardon list. Pardons for social integration were also found. To overcome collective conflict situations and promote social development through labor-management integration, eight labor-management offenders, including former Chairman Cho Sang-soo of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Public Transport Workers' Union, Executive Vice Chairman Heo Kwon of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and CEO Han Young-seok of Hyundai Heavy Industries, were included in the pardon recipients.

Both the political circles and the business community had anticipated that President Yoon would emphasize 'pardoning economic figures' even before the announcement of this special pardon. This is because President Yoon designated key industrial sectors such as semiconductors as core national tasks before and after his inauguration and repeatedly made statements such as "Remove the sandbags that hold back companies," showing efforts to enhance corporate competitiveness.

In particular, last month, while receiving a work report from Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, President Yoon instructed, "The top priority of legal administration should be policies that revive the economy," and "Improve excessive punitive regulations that suppress corporate activities." Currently, the Ministry of Justice is leading an internal investigation across all ministries to ease 'punishments on businesspeople,' which aligns with this context.

Inside the presidential office, the special pardon recipients are evaluated as "containing the will to revive the economy and restore people's livelihoods." As President Yoon continues to show his commitment to economic revival to the business community, there is also an expectation that companies will respond by creating jobs through investment. Moreover, in the case of Vice Chairman Lee, his role is significant in smoothly advancing the new government's national tasks. To secure Korea's competitiveness in the semiconductor industry, which has emerged as a core area in the US-China hegemony competition, large-scale investment and research by Samsung Electronics are necessary.

In the mid-to-long term, the large-scale pardon of economic figures may also become a factor that boosts President Yoon's approval ratings. A senior presidential office official said, "The stagnant economy has had a considerable impact on approval ratings, so it likely became a variable in the pardon discussions." Earlier, in a survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) in June targeting 1,000 adults, support for pardoning businesspeople (50.2%) was higher than opposition (37.2%).

The thorough exclusion of politicians from this pardon is also in the same context. Although pardons for political figures such as former President Lee Myung-bak and former Governor Kim Kyung-soo of Gyeongnam were initially discussed in the context of 'national unity,' the direction shifted to limit pardons due to high negative public opinion on pardoning politicians. The exclusion of former President Lee from the pardon list was more influenced by opposition from opposition parties than by public consensus. Since economic policies can only accelerate with cooperation from opposition parties in the current divided National Assembly, the decision aimed to preempt the possibility of another factional confrontation. President Yoon also explained the decisive reason for excluding politicians in the pardon process, saying, "Because economic instability and volatility are increasing, the most important thing is people's livelihoods. While the government must take care of people's livelihoods, the economy breathes when it is active, so the emphasis was placed there."