Cheon Haram Criticizes, Saying "Impossible to Accept"
Kim Sangwook Defends, Stating "Seven Out of Eight Charges Acquitted"
On August 11, the political sphere showed divided reactions to the government's announcement that former lawmaker Yoon Meehyang was included in the Liberation Day special pardon list. Cheon Haram, floor leader of the Reform New Party, strongly criticized the decision, saying, "It's like pardoning Cho Doo-soon on Children's Day." In contrast, Sangwook Kim, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, defended the move, stating, "I used to think she was simply a bad person, but the facts are different."
Appearing on the Dong-A Ilbo YouTube program "Please Take Care of Politics" that day, Cheon argued against Yoon's pardon, saying, "How can you pardon someone who embezzled money from comfort women grandmothers on Liberation Day?" He added, "Everyone except the most fervent Democratic Party supporters will find this impossible to accept."
Previously, in 2020, Yoon was indicted on charges including the personal use of donations intended to help victims of the Japanese military's comfort women system. In November last year, the Supreme Court finalized her sentence at one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years.
On the other hand, appearing on Channel A's "Political Signal," Kim said, "I vaguely thought she was a terrible person who embezzled money meant for the comfort women grandmothers." He continued, "But a media director showed me materials summarizing the verdict and the investigation process, and the actual facts were different from what I believed." He expressed his support for the special pardon.
He explained, "There was an extensive investigation at first, and the prosecution indicted her on eight charges. Seven of those resulted in acquittals. The single conviction was due to not being able to provide a receipt for an expense, which would have resulted in acquittal if the receipt had been found, but it couldn't be located due to the passage of time." He added, "I thought all eight charges resulted in convictions, but I was mistaken. My own perception was flawed from the beginning."
When the host asked, "Isn't it embezzlement if there is no receipt?" Kim responded, "Do we keep every receipt in our lives? The prosecution set a political goal to 'attack and eliminate that person' and thoroughly investigated everything. If you investigate like that, is there anyone who wouldn't get caught? Can anyone be 100% confident?"
Kim argued, "Given these circumstances, I believe granting a pardon for the sake of social integration is appropriate. A pardon does not mean there was no crime. The concept of a pardon is that there was a crime, but the president forgives it."
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