2,015 Covered in S. Korea Amnesty
The South Korean government announced an amnesty Tuesday for 2,015 of its political enemies but warned that tough measures will be enforced to restore law and order.
“I want to emphasize that the act of clemency is coupled with the administration’s unflinching determination to speedily restore the weakened public confidence in the law-enforcement authority of the state,” said Prime Minister Kang Young Hoon.
Officials said 281 people will be released from prison today, civil rights will be restored to 1,581 people now free on parole, the sentences of 92 others will be reduced and 61 people will be removed from the police “wanted” list.
The opposition Party for Peace and Democracy said the amnesty marked “big progress” but that 60 more political prisoners remain to be freed.
Among those to be freed are Kim Hyun Jang and Moon Boo Shik, serving 20-year sentences for a raid on the U.S. Cultural Center in Pusan in 1982. And among those whose civil rights are to be restored is dissident leader Kim Kun Tae, who won the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award this year.
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