올해 광복절 특별사면 없어…통상 가석방만
No Special Pardon This Liberation Day, Only Ordinary Parole
Part of the August 15, 2026 daily edition
정부는 올해 광복절 특별사면을 단행하지 않았습니다. 모범 수형자 등을 대상으로 한 통상적인 가석방만 이뤄졌습니다. 지난해 광복절에는 정치인과 경제인을 포함해 83만여 명이 특별사면을 받았습니다. 올해는 신년 특별사면도, 3·1절 특별사면도 이뤄지지 않았습니다. 올해 남은 기간까지 특사가 이뤄지지 않는다면 2017년 이후 첫 특사 없는 해가 될 전망입니다.
Translation
The government did not carry out a special pardon this Liberation Day. Only the ordinary parole granted to model prisoners and others took place. Last year, by contrast, some 830,000 people were specially pardoned on Liberation Day, including politicians and business figures. There was no New Year special pardon this year either, nor one for the March First Movement anniversary. If no special pardon takes place for the rest of this year, it will be the first year without one since 2017.
Vocabulary
- 광복절명사 (noun)Liberation Day, 15 August — Korea's independence from Japanese rule in 1945
- 특별사면명사 (noun)special pardon — clemency granted by the president to named individuals
- 단행하다동사 (verb)to carry out decisively (a measure that could have been avoided)
- 수형자명사 (noun)a person serving a prison sentence
- 가석방명사 (noun)parole — early release on conditions, not a wiping of the sentence
- 통상적관형사·명사 (determiner·noun)ordinary, routine (done as a matter of course)
- 전망명사 (noun)outlook, prospect (what is expected, not what is settled)
Grammar points
-지 않다does not ~, did not ~
The long negation, formed by attaching -지 to a verb stem and following it with 않다. Korean also has the short negation 안 in front of the verb, but news writing prefers the long form for institutional acts — 단행하지 않았다 reports a decision not to act, where 안 단행했다 would sound like a plain statement of absence.
Example: 정부는 계획을 발표하지 않았습니다.
The government did not announce the plan.
N만only N, nothing but N
Limits what happened to the one thing named. Here 가석방만 이뤄졌다 does two jobs at once: it says parole took place, and it says nothing else did. Korean often makes its point through 만 rather than a second negative sentence, so the limitation can be easy to miss if you read only the verb.
Example: 신청서만 내면 됩니다.
You only need to submit the application form.
-(ㄴ/는)다면if it should be that ~
A hypothetical conditional, weaker than -(으)면: it supposes a case that has not been settled. That is why the closing sentence is a forecast, not a fact — the year is not over, so 'the first year without a pardon since 2017' remains conditional on nothing happening in the months left.
Example: 비가 온다면 행사는 미뤄집니다.
If it should rain, the event will be postponed.
More in this edition
Economy
Expert
7월 수출물가 49.1% 상승…28년 4개월 만에 최고
July Export Prices Rose 49.1%, the Highest in 28 Years and Four Months
Society
Intermediate
광복절 맞아 독립운동가 283명 새로 포상
283 Independence Activists Are Newly Honoured for Liberation Day
Culture
Beginner
KIA, 두산 6-1로 꺾고 연패 탈출…양현종 시즌 8승
KIA Beat Doosan 6-1 to End Their Losing Run, and Yang Hyeon-jong Takes His 8th Win
Life
Beginner
광복절 연휴 첫날 고속도로 정체…서울에서 부산까지 7시간 50분
Motorways Jam on the First Day of the Liberation Day Weekend — Seoul to Busan in 7 Hours 50