Presidential pardon granted to ex-South Korea leader Lee
Seoul, Dec 27 (EFE).- South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol granted a special pardon to former president Lee Myung-bak and other high-profile inmates on Tuesday as part of a New Year amnesty.
The presidential pardon granted to Lee, 81, will allow him on Wednesday to leave prison, where he has only served 15 of the 17 years to which he was sentenced for bribery and embezzlement during his 2008-2013 term.
A total of 1,373 people were pardoned on Tuesday, including high-profile lawmakers and former officials convicted of corruption and other irregularities during previous administrations, according to Yonhap news agency.
Among them was former South Gyeongsang province governor Kim Kyoung-soo.
Kim, from the opposition Democratic Party and considered a close aide to former president Moon Jae-in, was sentenced to two years in prison for his part in an online opinion-rigging scandal leading up to the 2017 presidential election.
Kim, who only had six months left to serve of his sentence, will remain disqualified from politics for now.
It is the second time that Yoon has granted clemency since he came to power in May.
On the occasion of Independence Day in August, he pardoned Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and other tycoons. EFE
asb/tw
