Jailed ex-governor Kim Kyoung-soo says he's not sorry, won't take parole

Former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo, left, submitted a handwritten letter saying he does not want parole to correctional authorities on Dec. 7. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo said he'd refuse a parole if offered one by correctional authorities.

His remarks came as President Yoon Suk-yeol is deciding on pardons for political figures at the end of the year — and Kim may be angling for one.

On Tuesday, Kim wrote in a handwritten note posted by his wife on Facebook that he would have to show "clear indications of regret" to be granted parole, a "condition I cannot accept" because he maintains his innocence.

Kim is serving a two-year prison term for conspiring to manipulate online opinion ahead of the 2017 presidential election.

"As someone who has maintained my innocence from the start, I have told the Changwon prison many times that it is a condition I cannot accept," he wrote. "I want to state clearly once again. I do not want parole."

According to Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Ki Dong-min in a Facebook post Tuesday, Kim also said he has no intention of being a part of a package pardon deal with former conservative President Lee Myung-bak. Kim is a longtime political ally of former President Moon Jae-in, a liberal.

Korean presidents often pardon jailed politicians and business leaders on major public holidays such as Liberation Day in August and New Year's Eve, and the idea of a package deal refers to Kim being a liberal and former President Lee being a conservative.

Paroles are completely different from pardons and usually let convicts out of prison but do not wipe their records clean.

The media has reported that Yoon may be considering a pardon for Kim — but without a full reinstatement of his rights.

If Kim is pardoned without his rights being reinstated, he will not be able to run for office until May 2028.

People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers say Kim's remarks appears to be a play to get a full pardon to pave the way for an early return to politics.

"Isn't it an expression of his intention to ask for not only parole but also a pardon and reinstatement at the same time?" PPP Rep. Yoo Sang-bum, a former prosecutor, told the JoongAng Ilbo Wednesday.

On Thursday, liberal Democratic Party (DP) floor leader Park Hong-keun said it was unfair for the Yoon administration to consider a "package deal" of pardons for Kim and Lee since Kim has less than five months in his prison term and Lee has 15 years.

On Dec. 7, Kim submitted a handwritten letter to correctional authorities saying that he does not want a parole.

He wrote that an application for a parole usually requires an admission of "clear remorse."

Yoon is expected to grant pardons as early as Dec. 28 to figures such as former President Lee, who has been serving a 17-year sentence for embezzlement and bribery since November 2020.

Yoon has indicated he will be reaching across the political aisle in the pardons to include liberal figures to send a message of national unity and reconciliation.

In July 2021, the Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling that Kim was guilty of 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 2017 election bid. Moon won the snap election in May 2017.

Kim's prison term ends next May.

A presidential official told reporters Wednesday that year-end presidential pardons will be granted "in accordance with public opinion and common sense based on the spirit of the constitution and the rule of law."

The official added that "special pardons are an inherent power of the president clearly stated in the Constitution," and that "nothing more can be said about the standards, principles or targets of the pardons."

Presidential pardons go through a review by the Justice Ministry and Cabinet.

If Kim is pardoned and has his rights reinstated, he could run in general elections in 2024.

In a statement on Facebook Wednesday, Chung Jin-suk, interim chief of the PPP, wrote that Kim was "cosplaying as a conscientious person" by rejecting a parole.

"One would mistakenly think he was an independence fighter imprisoned during the independence movement," PPP spokesman Park Jeong-ha said in a statement the same day, accusing Kim of "deceiving the public."

DP Rep. Ko Min-jung, a member of the party's supreme council, told KBS radio Thursday that Kim's early return to politics via a pardon "can't be ruled out."

The Ministry of Justice's committee to review candidates for pardons will meet on Dec. 23. The committee was initially expected to convene on Dec. 20. A final shortlist is expected to be announced after a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 27.

More than half the people surveyed in an opinion poll released Thursday were opposed to pardons for both former President Lee and Kim.

According to a poll of 1,000 people from Monday to Wednesday by Embrain Public, K-Stat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research, 53 percent were opposed to a pardon for Lee and 51 percent for Kim.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]