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He'll be pardoned and released by the next election cycle, remember 2 presidents were even sentenced to death at one point. I'm reading the comments here and s

He'll be pardoned and released by the next election cycle, remember 2 presidents were even sentenced to death at one point. I'm reading the comments here and surprised by the lack of depth of assessing Korea's history of prosecuting its presidents and most of you are just regurgitating what's reported in mainstream news that is echoed by Korean mainstream news which cannot give you a neutral impartial view on the situation. Two Korean presidents were sentenced to death and were pardoned in the 90s. another two Korean presidents were jailed for decades and were released after a few years. All of this is just a quick pandering to voters for whichever side gets hold and I am willing to wager that the current and last President will also see the insides of a jail cell. I point that democracies like American politics even when it gets ugly to the point do not engage in such tit for tat against the President to the point of sending them to jail, for obvious reasons.

kube-system 8mo ago
Yeah, I don't understand the comments praising Korea for this. A tradition of prosecuting political opponents and then pardoning all of them is a mockery of the rule of law, regardless of what they actually did.
- miyoji 8mo ago
  If he's pardoned and released, sure, it's a mockery, but holding public officials accountable for their abuse of the public trust is necessary to the rule of law and democracy.
  - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
    Curious where in the world this happens (holding officials accountable for violating public trust). It certainly doesn't happen in the United States.
    - mschuster91 8mo ago
      Israel sent a former prime minister to prison. Ukraine has had many an anti-corruption sweep ever since the Russians invaded. France denied le Pen electability due to misappropriating EU funds.
      - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
        I'm fairly certain that in the cases you mentioned, the people doing the jailing / penalizing are also guilty of crimes and at the very least, violating public trust. Seems to me like more tit for tat politicking.
        gunapologist99 8mo ago
        Prosecuting political opponents is convenient and very effective, especially if friendly parties control most of the media as well.
        tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
        Agreed! In my experience, politicians are rarely prosecuted for the crimes they commit unless there is some benefit for the political opposition. Even then, they're usually let off the hook eventually. In reality, most politicians are on the same team, serving the same goals. Any semblance of opposition is kayfabe meant to convince the populace they have a choice, when in reality they do not.
        kelipso 8mo ago
        Bush is the most obvious example and he never got near a prison.
  - kube-system 8mo ago
    Yeah, but this story is not very indicative of that actually happening in the context of modern Korean history... they have arrested 4 prior presidents, and they've pardoned all of them. It's a pattern at this point.
- httpz 8mo ago
  Not that I agree with the pardons, but former presidents are usually old. Letting your political opponent die in prison can have a massive backlash so most presidents would rather not let that happen.
cookiengineer 8mo ago
For more details on this, there's some really interesting documentaries on how the Chaebol system works. In my personal opinion that's what the US is heading towards to right now, so might give you a hint on how to prevent it.
ehhthing 8mo ago
Yoon is quite politically toxic at the moment, I don't think he'll be pardoned any time soon. I also think that this would be a good moment for South Korea to reconsider its approach to corruption, especially since Yoon's actions represent a clear escalation in the history of corruption at the highest levels of government.
yongjik 8mo ago
> Two Korean presidents were sentenced to death and were pardoned in the 90s. The important context is that these two presidents were Chun Doo-hwan and his successor Roh Tae-Woo, who led the military coup of December 12th (1979), seizing power, and then sending paratroopers to murder hundreds of civilians to quash public protest in the uprising of Gwangju (1980). They weren't your garden variety corrupt politicians. They were mass murderers, and by 1995 when they were arrested, they and their military cabals were still posing a credible threat to Korea's democracy. Their arrest and subsequent death sentences, accompanied with a sweeping purge of their military cabal by president Kim Young-Sam, marked an important inflection point in Korea's decades-long struggle toward democracy: before that the threat of a military coup was a constant factor in politics. After that the threat was gone, and since then, the Korean military never even pretended they had any political ambitions. So mock their later pardons if you want to, but you can't deny it marked an important and necessary step in Korea's history. It also shows sending your ex-presidents to prison only to pardon them later is still better than not bothering with it at all. * Also, the "obvious reason" that American politics sent zero ex-presidents to prison is that Biden chickened out. So, there's that.
- codys 8mo ago
  > Also, the "obvious reason" that American politics sent zero ex-presidents to prison is that Biden chickened out. So, there's that. Don't forget Ford deciding to protect his political allies (by pardoning Nixon). And George HW Bush doing similar (preventing Iran-Contra scandal investigation by pardoning participants who could have fingered Bush or Reagan)
- DANmode 8mo ago
  “Chickening out” is a much more complicated issue than you’re making it (especially for that class of people).
  - yongjik 8mo ago
    It was also a "complicated issue" for 300 lawmakers of Korea on the night of the martial law declaration, especially since they had so little information and had only hours to act. For all they knew, Yoon could be starting a war, or sending troops to murder everyone in the capitol. Those who jumped the fence on that night did so not knowing when (or whether) they could go home. Enough of them did, and that's why Yoon's insurrection failed. Biden had his sweet four years to ponder on the matter, and the worst that could realistically happen to him was that people would say mean things about him. He has no one else to blame for his failure to send Trump to prison.
rambojohnson 8mo ago
in America, he would have been given a second term.
zipping1549 8mo ago
I think it’s unlikely he’ll be pardoned, at least for quite a long time. Lawmakers are actively concerned about this and will soon ban pardons for insurrection charges. It’s also a heavy burden to let a political figure die in a cell, but given how things are going, I’m fairly sure he’s going to spend a long time there.

kube-system 8mo ago

Yeah, I don't understand the comments praising Korea for this. A tradition of prosecuting political opponents and then pardoning all of them is a mockery of the rule of law, regardless of what they actually did.

miyoji 8mo ago
If he's pardoned and released, sure, it's a mockery, but holding public officials accountable for their abuse of the public trust is necessary to the rule of law and democracy.
- tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
  Curious where in the world this happens (holding officials accountable for violating public trust). It certainly doesn't happen in the United States.
  - mschuster91 8mo ago
    Israel sent a former prime minister to prison. Ukraine has had many an anti-corruption sweep ever since the Russians invaded. France denied le Pen electability due to misappropriating EU funds.
    - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
      I'm fairly certain that in the cases you mentioned, the people doing the jailing / penalizing are also guilty of crimes and at the very least, violating public trust. Seems to me like more tit for tat politicking.
      - gunapologist99 8mo ago
        Prosecuting political opponents is convenient and very effective, especially if friendly parties control most of the media as well.
        tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
        Agreed! In my experience, politicians are rarely prosecuted for the crimes they commit unless there is some benefit for the political opposition. Even then, they're usually let off the hook eventually. In reality, most politicians are on the same team, serving the same goals. Any semblance of opposition is kayfabe meant to convince the populace they have a choice, when in reality they do not.
      - kelipso 8mo ago
        Bush is the most obvious example and he never got near a prison.
- kube-system 8mo ago
  Yeah, but this story is not very indicative of that actually happening in the context of modern Korean history... they have arrested 4 prior presidents, and they've pardoned all of them. It's a pattern at this point.
httpz 8mo ago
Not that I agree with the pardons, but former presidents are usually old. Letting your political opponent die in prison can have a massive backlash so most presidents would rather not let that happen.

cookiengineer 8mo ago

For more details on this, there's some really interesting documentaries on how the Chaebol system works. In my personal opinion that's what the US is heading towards to right now, so might give you a hint on how to prevent it.

ehhthing 8mo ago

Yoon is quite politically toxic at the moment, I don't think he'll be pardoned any time soon. I also think that this would be a good moment for South Korea to reconsider its approach to corruption, especially since Yoon's actions represent a clear escalation in the history of corruption at the highest levels of government.

yongjik 8mo ago

> Two Korean presidents were sentenced to death and were pardoned in the 90s. The important context is that these two presidents were Chun Doo-hwan and his successor Roh Tae-Woo, who led the military coup of December 12th (1979), seizing power, and then sending paratroopers to murder hundreds of civilians to quash public protest in the uprising of Gwangju (1980). They weren't your garden variety corrupt politicians. They were mass murderers, and by 1995 when they were arrested, they and their military cabals were still posing a credible threat to Korea's democracy. Their arrest and subsequent death sentences, accompanied with a sweeping purge of their military cabal by president Kim Young-Sam, marked an important inflection point in Korea's decades-long struggle toward democracy: before that the threat of a military coup was a constant factor in politics. After that the threat was gone, and since then, the Korean military never even pretended they had any political ambitions. So mock their later pardons if you want to, but you can't deny it marked an important and necessary step in Korea's history. It also shows sending your ex-presidents to prison only to pardon them later is still better than not bothering with it at all. * Also, the "obvious reason" that American politics sent zero ex-presidents to prison is that Biden chickened out. So, there's that.

codys 8mo ago
> Also, the "obvious reason" that American politics sent zero ex-presidents to prison is that Biden chickened out. So, there's that. Don't forget Ford deciding to protect his political allies (by pardoning Nixon). And George HW Bush doing similar (preventing Iran-Contra scandal investigation by pardoning participants who could have fingered Bush or Reagan)
DANmode 8mo ago
“Chickening out” is a much more complicated issue than you’re making it (especially for that class of people).
- yongjik 8mo ago
  It was also a "complicated issue" for 300 lawmakers of Korea on the night of the martial law declaration, especially since they had so little information and had only hours to act. For all they knew, Yoon could be starting a war, or sending troops to murder everyone in the capitol. Those who jumped the fence on that night did so not knowing when (or whether) they could go home. Enough of them did, and that's why Yoon's insurrection failed. Biden had his sweet four years to ponder on the matter, and the worst that could realistically happen to him was that people would say mean things about him. He has no one else to blame for his failure to send Trump to prison.

rambojohnson 8mo ago

in America, he would have been given a second term.

zipping1549 8mo ago

I think it’s unlikely he’ll be pardoned, at least for quite a long time. Lawmakers are actively concerned about this and will soon ban pardons for insurrection charges. It’s also a heavy burden to let a political figure die in a cell, but given how things are going, I’m fairly sure he’s going to spend a long time there.