No self-reflection, no special reinstatement

If a reinstatement only fans conflict, we must think again.

Former Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Kyung-soo is reportedly included in a list of people eligible for presidential immunity on the occasion of Aug. 15 Liberation Day. The list will be announced in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to be presided over by President Yoon Suk Yeol. Kim was sentenced to two years in jail in 2021 for orchestrating the shocking opinion manipulation scheme before the 2016 presidential election to help Moon Jae-in get elected as president. Kim received a special pardon from President Yoon in December 2022 five months before the completion of his prison term, but his civilian rights were not reinstated at that time. If Kim recovers his rights this time, he can engage in political activities.

Offering immunity or reinstating civilian rights to convicts is the president’s privilege. But controversy erupted over the legitimacy of the reinstatement. A president can restore ex-convicts’ civilian rights, including the right to run in elections, when they are actually not guilty of crimes or they deeply regret their wrongdoings or when such a reinstatement is needed for national integration. In Kim’s case, none of the three conditions are relevant. He colluded with another person directly involved in manipulating public opinions before the 2016 election to help Moon get elected president. That constitutes a grave crime shaking the very foundation of democracy.

Above all, Kim didn’t apologize nor regret his crime. Shortly before going to prison after a Supreme Court ruling in July 2021, he blatantly said, “Even if I can’t tell the whole truth, the truth cannot change.” Upon his release from jail, he even said, “It’s like getting a present I don’t want.” We wonder why the government wants to reinstate such a person. The Amnesty Act mandates the Department of Justice clarify the reason for reinstatement before presenting the list to the president. We wonder what was cited by the ministry.

Wild presumptions about the reinstatement and simmering conflicts among political circles only fuel social discords. Han Dong-hoon, the new leader of the governing People Power Party (PPP), made public his opposition to the reinstatement. In reaction, the presidential office said the decision was already made when the president decided to get him out of jail two years ago. Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the majority Democratic Party, and the presidential office are exchanging attacks on one another over the truth behind Kim’s reinstatement.

If a reinstatement only fans conflict, we must think again. Rejecting the special pardon in 2022, the former governor said, “The presidential office says it has decided to pardon me for national integration, but people know too well that social integration cannot be achieved one-sidedly.” What a sharp analysis of the current situation indeed!