[Editorial] No special amnesty

President Park Geun-hye is reportedly planning to set herself apart from her predecessors by withholding the use of special presidential amnesty ahead of Liberation Day this coming Thursday. This is a rare piece of welcome news.

First as a presidential candidate and later as president-elect, she repeatedly committed herself to putting strict restrictions on her use of special amnesty. She promised not to pardon senior public officeholders, politicians and businessmen serving prison terms simply because they were close to her. She will be making good on her promise if she forgoes the special amnesty this time.

One of the most notorious amnesty cases in the nation involved former President Lee Myung-bak, Park’s immediate predecessor. On Jan. 29 this year, Lee granted special pardons to those to whom he felt indebted in defiance of public opposition. He did so impudently with less than a month left until his term in office ended on Feb. 24.

Among the beneficiaries were two of Lee’s cronies ― one who, as a political mentor, helped him become elected as president and another who was one of his closest university alumni. When they were given a special pardon, they had been serving prison terms for bribery. Cynics called it Lee’s “self-pardon.”

Though he was so brazen as to use the presidential privilege for his close friends near the end of his term, he was not so different from his predecessors, who conducted special amnesties on every occasion available, including Liberation Day on Aug. 15. They just ignored the promise, which they had invariably made as presidential candidates, that they would use the presidential privilege sparingly, if ever.

Instead, it became routine for an incumbent president to exercise his privilege ahead of a celebratory day. Among those freed were politicians that had been convicted of breaching election laws or taking bribes, business tycoons that had embezzled corporate funds, and senior public officeholders that had taken huge sums of money in bribes. Of course, those granted amnesty were close to the president.

When the use of the special pardon came under fire, former presidents simply waited out the storm. They used their privilege again when an occasion deemed suitable came around. What was ludicrous was that they occasionally kept a straight face and talked about the rule of law.

As such, not many would have believed Park when she promised in her inaugural speech to build a society where the law would be impartially served and become the “shield of justice” for minorities. Forgoing special amnesty this time should be a first step toward her goal of building a society where justice, not power, prevails.