Opposition: “If President Lee pardons Lee Hwa-young, his administration will fall ... He must state his position”
- Input
- 2026-10-13 08:53:27
- Updated
- 2026-10-13 08:53:27
[Financial News] The People Power Party warned on the 13th that the administration would fall if President Lee Jae-myung granted a special pardon to Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province for Peace. The warning came after reports that Lee would ask the president for a Christmas pardon.
Policy Committee Chair Im I-ja said at a meeting on responses to the parliamentary audit held at the National Assembly that day, “Reports say that Lee, whose seven-year-and-eight-month prison sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court over charges of illegal remittances to North Korea by Ssangbangwool and bribery, will issue his second statement from prison sometime this week and seek early release through a Christmas pardon. It is truly absurd and preposterous.”
Im said, “Even after the Justice Ministry said he does not meet the legal requirements for parole, he is hounding President Lee to free him through a special pardon, as if demanding repayment of a debt. It is a bizarre spectacle: publicly pressuring a sitting president as if to say, ‘I took the fall and went to prison alone, so now get me out.’”
She added, “I cannot help wondering what potentially fatal weakness Lee Hwa-young is holding over President Lee for a subordinate behind bars to demand his release from the president so arrogantly.”
Im said, “At this point, President Lee must state his position directly. The president, who has been so quick to weigh in on every matter on social media, is conspicuously silent about Lee Hwa-young’s public demands for parole and a pardon.”
She pressed the point, saying, “If he grants a special pardon tailored to Lee Hwa-young that undermines the rule of law and damages judicial justice, it would be a clear abuse of authority, privatizing the constitutionally granted power of pardon and subverting the judicial system. It would be the decisive spark that brings down the Lee Jae-myung administration.”
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter