A Korean-American veteran receives a pardon after voluntarily leaving the service
Korean-American veteran and Purple Heart recipient Cy-Joon Park received a pardon for the crimes he committed and voluntarily left the United States.
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Park had deported himself to South Korea, the country he left as a child, after immigration officials threatened to arrest him during a routine immigration appointment because of a previous criminal conviction, in a case that caught the attention of Congress in December, as lawmakers pressed the former Secretary of Homeland Security on behalf of veterans targeted by the crackdown, before New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday expunged two convictions against Park for bail breach and drug possession, saying he had shown positive changes and deserved a second chance.
Park expressed his deep gratitude to Hochul, saying that she had given him a chance to prove that he was more than the mistakes of the past. However, the pardon does not automatically mean his return to America, but rather gives him a legal basis to request the cancellation of the deportation order, as explained by his lawyer, who expressed hope that Park, after more than a year of separation from his family, will be able to return to the country he fought for, without specifying how long this process might take.
It is reported that Park moved to America at the age of seven, joined the army after high school, and participated in the invasion of Panama in 1989 where he was wounded twice and received the Purple Heart. However, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which led him to use drugs. He was convicted in two cases and left after 49 years in America, leaving behind his two children. He currently lives in Busan where he relies on his relatives due to his limited Korean language skills.
