Yoon grants special pardon to ex-President Lee

Dec 28, 2022, 08:56 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2022./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Kim Na-ri

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday granted special pardons to 1,373 people, including former President Lee Myung-bak and former South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo. The list of wide-ranging pardons, which focused on “national unity,” included a series of politicians and public officials.

Yoon approved the list during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul. The pardons, effective at the beginning of Wednesday, includes 9 politicians and 66 pubic officials.

“We carefully decided on the subject and scope of the pardon after considering opinions from all walks of life,” Yoon said during the meeting, adding he hopes this serves as an opportunity to “unite” the national power.

Former President Lee Myung-bak, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery and embezzlement charges related to auto parts maker DAS, was pardoned and the remaining sentence of about 15 years and fines were waived. Former South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim was pardoned without reinstatement As he was not reinstated, he will not be able to run for election until May 2028.

Among those for special pardon, many figures from the former Park Geun-hye administration were included, such as former chief of staff Kim Ki-chun, former senior secretary for political affairs Cho Yoon-sun, and former senior secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo. Park Geun-hye’s close aides - Ahn Bong-geun, Jeong Ho-seong and Lee Jae-man – who were involved in the political scandal that led to Park’s impeachment were also pardoned.

Lee Myung-bak’s aides who were pardoned include former National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Won Se-hoon, who was sentenced to 9 years in prison for political intervention by the NIS, as well as NIS deputy director Min Byung-hwan and former NIS psychological warfare team chief Yoo Sung-ok.

Politicians on both side of the aisle were pardoned, including former Future Korea Party (currently People Power Party) lawmaker Kim Sung-tae and former Democratic Party Jeon Byung-heon.

#special pardon #Lee Myung-bak #Yoon Suk-yeol #Kim Kyoung-soo