South Korea pardons jailed ex-president Lee

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Dec 2022 14:08

South Korea’s current leader issuex a special pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak.

Former South Korea President Lee Myung-bak arrives at the prosecutor's office in Seoul. March 2018. Source: Reuters.

Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, along with other politicians and former government officials convicted of corruption, received a special pardon from South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday, according to the country's justice ministry.

According to the statement, a total of 1,373 people, including politicians, lawmakers, officials, and electoral law violators, will be pardoned. The decision takes effect on December 28.

Lee was South Korea's president from 2008 to 2013. He was arrested and convicted in 2018 of embezzling corporate funds at his auto part manufacturing company, DAS, as well as accepting bribes from companies such as Samsung.

The former president was sentenced to 17 years in prison, but the pardon freed him from serving another 15 years and paying approximately 8.2 billion won ($6.48 million) in unpaid fines.

The former governor of South Gyeongsang Province and a close confidant of former President Moon Jae-in, Kim Kyung-soo, will be released without reinstatement. He will not be able to run for public office until December 2027.

Several former Park Geun-hye aides, including a former chief of staff and former senior secretaries for civil affairs, were also pardoned in connection with a massive corruption scandal that led to Park Geun-hye's impeachment in 2017.

Yoon has granted his second pardon since taking office in May. A full pardon was granted in August to the vice president of Samsung Electronics, who had been on parole since last year.