Former governor's right to run for office expected to be restored by presidential pardon

Kim Kyung-soo, a former South Gyeongsang governor who was released from jail two years ago, is expected to have his right to run for office restored as part of President Yoon Suk Yeol's raft of special pardons on Thursday.

Former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyung-soo speaks to reporters before boarding a flight to London at Incheon International Airport on June 14. [YONHAP]

Kim Kyung-soo, a former South Gyeongsang governor who was released from jail two years ago, is expected to have his right to run for office restored as part of President Yoon Suk Yeol's raft of special pardons on Thursday, according to the presidential office.

Kim, a close associate of former President Moon Jae-in, was sentenced to two years in prison for running an online opinion manipulation scheme before the 2017 presidential election. He was released from prison under a special pardon in late 2022 that did not restore his right to run for office.

A high-ranking presidential official told the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity on Saturday that the reinstatement of Kim’s political rights “was already decided at the time his pardon was issued” and “timed to take place after the [April] general election” because his criminal conviction was for illegal campaigning activities.

Korean presidents typically issue special pardons for prominent politicians and key business leaders around Liberation Day on Aug. 15, which falls on Thursday this week, and New Year’s Eve.

The end of the ban on Kim’s participation in elections is opposed by Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), who has privately expressed the opinion that “people may not sympathize with the [president’s] decision to restore the political rights of someone who has not repented for committing a crime against democracy,” according to aides who spoke to local media.

While still in prison in December 2022, Kim said he did not want to be pardoned because the condition for an early release required him to show “clear signs of regret.”

Kim refused to admit wrongdoing even after the Supreme Court in July 2021 upheld his conviction for colluding with political blogger Kim Dong-won, better known by his online alias Druking, to mount an online campaign beginning in November 2016 to support Moon’s successful 2017 election bid.

But the presidential official who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo noted that Han, who served as Yoon’s first justice minister from May 2022 to December last year, voiced little objection to the idea of a special pardon for Kim when it was initially floated during the president’s first year in office.

Although special pardons are ultimately signed off by the president, they are first reviewed by a committee under the Justice Ministry and announced by the justice minister before they take effect.

Kim was released from prison at the same time as former President Lee Myung-bak in a decision that Han at the time said was intended to “foster national reconciliation and unity.”

The decision to pardon both Kim and Lee was criticized by some in the liberal Democratic Party (DP), who noted that Kim had five months remaining on his sentence, while Lee had 15 years.

One administration official, who spoke the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity, suggested the PPP leader could be highlighting his opposition to the reinstatement of Kim’s right to run for office in order to distance himself from Yoon.

The president’s chronic unpopularity is widely believed to have hurt the PPP in the last election, when the party’s parliamentary minority in the 300-member National Assembly was reduced from 113 seats to 108.

The presidential office also said that the decision to restore Kim’s right to run for office was made before it was contacted by the liberal Democratic Party (DP), contradicting former DP leader Lee Jae-myung’s claim that he lobbied Yoon on several occasions to allow the former South Gyeongsang governor’s return to active politics.

Lee, who is likely to win a second term as DP chairman in the party’s ongoing leadership contest, told reporters on Saturday that he requested a full pardon for Kim “through multiple routes,” but declined to specify when.

Kim is expected by observers to attract support from DP factions that are not aligned with Lee, who is under concurrent investigations for multiple controversies related to his time as the mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]