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| A person purchases former President Park Geun-hye’s book, which is a compilation of her prison letters, at a bookstore in Seoul, Thursday. Park was released under a presidential pardon Friday. Yonhap |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Former President Park Geun-hye, who was released Friday under a presidential pardon, claimed that she never gave privileges to anyone with an axe to grind, in a book published a day ahead of her pardon.
Park, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for corruption and influence-peddling scandal after being ousted in March 2017, released a book compiling letters she exchanged with her supporters while behind bars from 2017 to 2021, Thursday.
In the book, “Longing Doesn’t Happen to Anyone (translated title),” Park consistently remains critical of court rulings which found her guilty and media reports on the scandal, implying the impeachment was unfair and unjust. However, in the book, she does not explicitly apologize for the influence-peddling scandal which led to her impeachment.
“I believe the truth will be revealed and issues will be unraveled in the end even though it will take time,” she wrote in one of the letters. “I’m enduring this moment with the belief that the lies and instigation will collapse when the right time comes.”
She also refutes one of the key issues during her term: the seven missing hours on the day of the Sewol Ferry sinking in 2014. The then-opposition Democratic Party, a predecessor of the current ruling Democratic Party of Korea, attacked Park for being absent from the office during such an important moment.
Park wrote, “I wasn’t feeling well that day and I received the report at my official residence. There were rumors and malicious slander against me regarding the situation, but I remained silent because I believe in the power of truth,” adding that she has nothing to hide and no reason to do so.
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| Supporters of former President Park Geun-hye gather in front of Samsung Medical Center, where Park is hospitalized, to celebrate her release, early Friday morning. Yonhap |
Park also claims the injustice of the additional arrest warrants issued in October 2017, when she was already behind bars. Yoon Suk-yeol, the current presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office when the warrants were issued.
Park’s criticism on the prosecution can be interpreted as targeting Yoon, who led the investigation into the scandal involving Park’s friend and confidante Choi Soon-sil.
“I endured attending four trials a week despite humiliation because I believed that the judiciary will distinguish between what is right and wrong. However, those ridiculous additional warrants made me decide that the trials were just formalities for a foregone conclusion,” Park wrote.
Yoon also appears in a reply to a letter which mentions the then-prosecutor general indicting justice minister nominee Cho Kuk’s wife over corruption allegations.
Park wrote, “When assessing someone, you have to trace back one’s past. Lies can deceive some people for a moment, but cannot deceive everyone forever.”
However, her target of criticism remains ambiguous between Yoon and Cho.
On Friday morning, Park received a certificate of pardon at a hospital in Seoul where she had been hospitalized for back and shoulder pains and is expected to remain there until February.
Park’s supporters gathered in front of the hospital to celebrate her release Friday morning.
Pardoned ex-president expresses resentment over impeachment
Source: Buhay Kapa PH
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