New York governor pardons Purple Heart veteran Sae Joon Park, who self-deported to South Korea in 2025
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul granted clemency to Sae Joon Park on Friday, erasing his convictions for bail jumping and drug possession. Park, a Purple Heart recipient who served in the U.S. Army and was later removed to South Korea, has lived in the United States since age 7. The pardon does not automatically allow Park to return to the U.S., but opens a path for his legal team to seek to vacate his removal order.
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Sae Joon Park, an Army veteran awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, received a pardon from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday — a development that his legal team described as a significant step toward his possible return to the United States.
Park came to the U.S. from South Korea at age 7 and became a legal permanent resident. He joined the Army at 19 and was deployed to Operation Just Cause, the U.S. military intervention against Manuel Noriega's government. He was shot in the back by Panamanian soldiers, flown home, honorably discharged, and awarded the Purple Heart. Park later said he struggled with undiagnosed PTSD in the years following his service, which he said contributed to drug addiction and criminal convictions.
After serving three years in prison and getting sober, Park spent roughly a decade rebuilding his life in Hawaii. In June 2025, immigration authorities told Park he would be detained and deported if he did not leave voluntarily, according to his legal team. He departed for South Korea that month — a country he had not lived in for nearly 50 years — leaving behind two adult children and an elderly mother. Before leaving, he told NPR he believed it might be the last time he would see his mother.