Kim Kyung-soo Pardoned Including Lottery... 1,219 People Granted Liberation Day Special Amnesty
Yoon Gives Final Approval for 'Liberation Day Special Pardon and Reinstatement'
President Yoon Suk-yeol granted special pardons and reinstatements on the occasion of the August 15 Liberation Day, including former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo and former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun.
High-ranking officials from the Park Geun-hye administration, such as former Senior Secretaries for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun and Hyun Ki-hwan, and former Senior Secretary for Policy Coordination Ahn Jong-beom, who were sentenced to prison in connection with the state affairs manipulation scandal, as well as former National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon from the Lee Myung-bak administration, were also included in the special pardon and reinstatement list.
On the morning of the 13th, Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office following the Cabinet meeting on pardons and announced the recipients of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s “August 15 Special Pardon.” A total of 1,219 people were pardoned, including small and medium-sized business owners, small merchants, youth, low-income livelihood-related criminal offenders, specially considered inmates, businesspeople, former senior public officials, and politicians.
Former Governor Kim was sentenced to two years in prison by the Supreme Court in July 2021 for the Druking comment manipulation case and was released with five months remaining on his sentence. Since he had not been reinstated, his eligibility to run for office had been revoked until December 2027, but with this reinstatement, he can recover his lost and suspended qualifications. This also opens the path for him to run in the 2027 presidential election.
Former Senior Secretary Cho served a sentence of one year and two months for the cultural blacklist case during the Park Geun-hye administration. Kim Ki-chun, former Chief of Staff to the President, who was tried alongside Cho in the blacklist case, and Kim Kwan-jin, former Minister of National Defense, whose sentence was confirmed in the military cyber command political comment case, were pardoned in the Lunar New Year special pardon in February.
To enhance corporate competitiveness, 15 businesspeople were reinstated. Key reinstatement recipients include Lee Dong-chae, former CEO of EcoPro Group; Jung Won-joo, Vice Chairman of Joongheung Group; Cho Soon-gu, former CEO of InterM; and Choi Kyu-ok, former Chairman of Osstem Implant. Minister Park explained at the briefing, “By pardoning major businesspeople contributing to the national economy, former senior public officials who were punished for mistakes during state affairs but have long devoted themselves to the nation and society, as well as politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, we aim to overcome social conflicts and promote national unity.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
