Democratic Party: "Healing Wounds Through Liberation Day Pardon... Toward the Future"

"It Is Only Right to Restore the Honor of Victims of Political Prosecutors"

The Democratic Party of Korea stated on the 11th, "We hope that this Liberation Day pardon will provide some people with an opportunity for economic recovery, and furthermore, serve as a chance to heal social conflict and wounds."

Former Cho Kuk, former leader of the Innovation Party, waves to supporters before being incarcerated in front of Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of December 16 last year. Photo by Yonhap News

Park Soo-hyun, chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said during a briefing at the National Assembly's communication center regarding the Liberation Day pardon, "As the government announced, this Liberation Day pardon appears to have taken 'people's livelihoods' and 'national unity' as its core values."

Chief spokesperson Park added, "The exercise of the pardon power is an exclusive authority guaranteed to the president by the Constitution. President Lee Jae-myung appears to have carefully considered both the public's expectations and the demands of the times. We deeply understand the president's difficult deliberations."

He continued, "There will be voices of both 'support' and 'criticism.' We will listen carefully to all voices. We believe that every opinion will serve as a foundation for South Korea to advance toward a more mature democracy." This remark is interpreted as being conscious of the public criticism surrounding the pardons of former Cho Kuk Innovation Party leader Cho Kuk and his wife, as well as former lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang.

He went on to say, "Especially as a government that must bring an end to insurrection, we sought to restore the lives and honor of victims who suffered under the ruthless prosecutorial investigations of prosecutorial dictatorship," emphasizing, "It is only right that, along with returning political prosecutors to their proper place, the victims of political prosecutors also have their honor restored."