Minor party vows renewed reform push as Cho Kuk returns
"It is thanks to the people that former leader Cho can finally breathe an air of healing. We also thank President Lee for his carefully weighed decision," acting leader Rep. Kim Sun-min said at a press briefing at the National Assembly. The comment came after the Lee administration unveiled the amnesty list including Cho, with his release set for Friday, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan.
Kim said Cho's return would provide renewed momentum for what the party calls its five-agency reform drive — reforming the prosecution, national intelligence agency, state audit office, police and Finance Ministry — a package first proposed in March 2024. She added that the party will also push for the creation of a special committee on unconstitutional acts, a proposal formally presented in June this year.
"Now we have the drive to fully restore Korean democracy and make the Lee Jae Myung administration succeed. It is time for all in the progressive camp to pull together," she said. "Rebuilding Korea Party will be at the front."
Cho, 60, has been serving a two-year sentence since December 2024 over document forgery tied to his children's university and medical school applications. The pardon restores his eligibility to run in both the 2028 general and 2030 presidential elections.
The party did not disclose a detailed schedule for Cho after his release.
"We cannot share specifics yet, but in the near term, he will likely meet party members and citizens who have been concerned for him. The party will give full support," Kim said.
Asked whether Cho would run in the upcoming party convention to elect a new leader, Kim said it was "too early to discuss" and that such a decision would depend on Cho's own judgment after his release.
The party added that it would prioritize remedies for what it describes as the abuse of prosecutorial power under the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration, citing a bill introduced by allied liberal parties — the Democratic Party of Korea, Rebuilding Korea Party and the Social Democratic Party — to investigate alleged misuse of prosecutorial authority and provide relief to victims.
Cho was a symbolic figure in the Moon Jae-in administration's drive for prosecutorial reform, serving as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2017 to 2019 and as justice minister in 2019.
He later founded the Rebuilding Korea Party, which secured 12 proportional seats in the April 2024 general election. He also occupied a seat in the National Assembly, but lost it when his conviction on charges related to forging academic documents for his children was confirmed in December 2024.
The pardon also nullifies remaining legal effects of the sentence imposed on Cho's wife, Chung Kyung-sim, who was convicted in a related case to a four-year prison term that she has already served.
Meanwhile, President Lee's pardon of Cho and his wife has drawn sharply divided reactions across the political spectrum.
Rep. Na Kyung-won, a five-term veteran lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party, criticized the inclusion of Cho and his wife in the pardon list, calling it "a Liberation Day of impunity for its (the ruling party's) own, undermining the true meaning of the day."
The ruling Democratic Party voiced support.
"This year's Liberation Day pardon appears to have upheld the government's stated core values of improving livelihoods and promoting national unity," said Rep. Park Soo-hyun, the party's chief spokesperson.
"In particular, as a government tasked with ending political strife, we sought to restore the lives and honor of those who suffered from the unjust prosecutorial crackdowns under the previous Yoon government."
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