Parole released by lawyer Lee Hwa-young... Controversy between administrations due to low threshold

Attorney Kwang-min Kim claims, “I am angry with President Lee”… Lee Hwa-young evolves by saying, “It’s different from what I really meant.”

Unlike pardons, parole is decided by the Minister of Justice... Use of ‘detour’ due to low political burden

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Jae-ha = Controversy in the political world is heating up as the lawyer for Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who is serving a confirmed prison sentence, publicly advocates parole.

Unlike pardons, which are the authority of the president, parole can be granted under the authority of the Minister of Justice, so the political burden is low, and there have been cases where past administrations have decided to grant parole in politically sensitive cases.

According to the legal community on the 10th, former Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who served as Deputy Governor for Peace (Deputy Governor for Political Affairs) from 2018 to 2020 when President Lee was Governor of Gyeonggi Province, has claimed that there was a coercive investigation and appeasement by the prosecution in the 'Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea' case.

Specifically, former Deputy Governor Lee testified at a National Assembly hearing that since the first half of 2024, when the first trial of the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance case to North Korea was in progress, the prosecution had been providing salmon and alcohol in the investigation room to solicit statements.

This testimony of former Deputy Governor Lee became the background for the Democratic Party of Korea to push for the cancellation of the indictment against President Lee Jae-myung, who was accused of being an accomplice, while claiming that the prosecution fabricated the indictment.

In this situation, when lawyer Kim Gwang-min, the former deputy governor Lee's lawyer, recently argued for parole, saying, "Former deputy governor Lee was very angry with President Lee," the opposition party claims that the former deputy governor presented a 'bill' for parole in exchange for providing the logic that the indictment was fabricated to President Lee.

There are several examples of controversies erupting in the legal and political circles over parole in politically sensitive cases in past administrations.

Unlike a pardon, which exempts the execution of punishment through the power of the president based on the Constitution, parole is a system that is granted by the Minister of Justice in accordance with the Criminal Act and conditionally does not execute the remaining sentence on the inmate.

Although it has the same effect as a pardon in that one is released from imprisonment, the political burden borne by the regime is much lighter with parole than with a pardon.

A representative example of this is the parole and pardon for Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

In 2021, during the Moon Jae-in administration, immediately after Chairman Lee was sentenced to prison for a state corruption case, voices calling for a pardon for Chairman Lee spread in the political and business circles.

However, civic groups opposed Chairman Lee's pardon, saying it was a preferential treatment for conglomerates, and as a result, calls for parole to ease the political burden of the pardon gained strength within the ruling Democratic Party.

In the end, Chairman Lee Jae-yong was released on parole in celebration of Liberation Day in August 2021, and reinstatement through a pardon took place only in August of the following year.

Because the legal burden is relatively low, there are several cases where the government has chosen parole in sensitive cases where a decision on pardon could easily draw public criticism.

In 2024, the Yoon Seok-yeol government released Choi Eun-soon, the president's mother-in-law at the time, on parole two months before the expiration of her sentence.

Mr. Choi was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of forging a balance certificate during the land purchase process.

The Yoon Seok-yeol government also paroled Jeong Gyeong-sim, the spouse of Cho Kuk, the head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and Jo Beom-dong, his 5th cousin nephew, in 2023.

Prior to this, the Moon Jae-in administration paroled former Korean Federation of Trade Unions Chairman Han Sang-gyun, who was serving time in prison in 2018. Former Chairman Han was sentenced to prison on charges of leading illegal protests during the 'People's Rally' in 2015.

Although parole has a lower threshold than pardon, it is unlikely that former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young of Gyeonggi Province, who is at the center of the current controversy, will be released through this system.

Acting Minister of Justice Lee Jin-soo (Vice Minister of Justice) drew a line in the controversy during the National Assembly's audit of the Ministry of Justice on the 8th, saying that not only did former Lieutenant Governor Lee fail to meet the parole requirements, but no application for parole was received.

In principle, parole is decided upon by the Ministry of Justice among prisoners who have served more than one-third of their sentence, but Acting Minister Lee Jin-soo explained that former Deputy Governor Lee failed to meet this requirement.

Former Deputy Governor Lee was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison for the North Korea remittance case and served more than 4 years, completing half of the sentence. However, 4 months in prison was added in the first trial for perjury related to the so-called 'salmon drinking party' suspicion, and he is also being tried on other charges such as third-party bribery.

In addition, former Deputy Governor Lee himself said that lawyer Kim Kwang-min's argument was different from his own and expressed his intention to step forward and not ask for parole.

In a handwritten statement released on the 8th, former Deputy Governor Lee responded to lawyer Kim Gwang-min's claims, saying, "It seems that he expressed his regret after watching my long prison life," and "It is different from my true intentions."