President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday challenged the special pardons granted by her two predecessors to deceased businessman Sung Woan-jong, calling them “incomprehensible” and a matter that undermined the rule of law.

The remark was widely seen as a counterattack aimed at the main opposition party amid a deepening political crisis for her and her party ahead of parliamentary by-elections on Wednesday. Park and the Saenuri Party have come under criticism over a graft scandal involving Sung and her close confidants.

In a message delivered by her senior press secretary, she also called for a thorough investigation into special pardons granted by the late former President Roh Moo-hyun to Sung. She stressed that the amnesty given by the then liberal president sowed the seeds of the current graft scandal and that preventative efforts were needed to end persistent political corruption.

“It is difficult for the people to accept the special pardons repeatedly granted to Sung. It undermined the rule of law and eventually led to the present situation, which could have been avoided,” Park said through Kim Sung-woo, senior presidential secretary on public affairs.

“We have to reveal the truth on this problem and fix it institutionally. … I believe that we now have one last opportunity to break and eradicate the chain of corruption.”

Kim said he was reading the president’s message because Park was not in good enough physical condition to make public appearances. Cheong Wa Dae said Monday that the president was advised to take a day or two off to recover from an illness. She has suffered stomach cramps and a sore throat after her recent trip to Latin America, the presidential medical team said. But the president wanted to deliver the message to tackle a series of pending issues and minimize the vacuum in state governance, Kim said.

In the message, the president also expressed regret over the resignation of Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo.

She pledged to put an end to corruption, stressing that the people would not condone anyone involved in the graft scandal. The president urged a transformation of the nation’s existing political culture, which put a high value on regional and school ties.

Park’s message was delivered a day after she accepted Lee’s resignation.

Lee offered to quit last week during Park’s trip. He came under bipartisan pressure to step down over his involvement in graft allegations.

Lee was one of eight political heavyweights whose names were on a memo left by Sung before he died earlier in the month. In an interview with a local daily, Sung testified that he delivered cash to politicians on the memo. All eight politicians on the list, including Lee and Park’s incumbent and previous chief of staff, denied Sung’s claim but vowed to cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation. But speculation was raised by the main opposition party that Sung’s cash was used to help Park win presidential candidacy in 2007 and 2012. Park was elected as the ruling party’s presidential candidate in 2012 and defeated her rival Moon Jae-in in December that year.

Park’s remarks immediately enraged the opposition.

Moon, leader of New Politics Alliance for Democracy, lashed out at her, saying the president was spreading false accusations to divert the public attention from the graft scandal, and has violated her duty to remain politically neutral ahead of Wednesday’s by-elections.

“I feel it is regrettable to see the president trying to conceal the nature of the scandal and to incite another political strife by speaking of special pardon,” he said.

“The scandal centers on top officials those in power in (the current) administration, not the question of whether the special pardons granted by a retiring president as part of political considerations to the new government was adequate,” he said.

Moon has been facing attack from the Saenuri Party which criticized the opposition’s alleged links to Sung during the Roh administration. President Roh had pardoned Sung twice in 2005 and 2007, after the businessman had been charged with embezzlement and misappropriation of corporate funds. The ruling party also pressed Moon to speak on the speculations as he was senior presidential secretary in 2005 and chief of staff in 2007.

Moon has been resisting the demand, saying that Sung was released upon an unofficial request made by the then president-elect Lee Myung-bak.

Political pundits also raised mixed views about Park’s stressing of the special pardons by previous administrations.

Political professor Choi Young-jin said Park’s remark was a mere “political rhetoric” to convert the target of criticism to the past administration.

“The message obviously carried political intent to avoid public criticism but was inappropriate as she failed to deliver an apology over her confidants’ alleged involvement in the scandal,” he said.

“The president appointed them and holds ultimate responsibility for that.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)