More than two years after being sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption, former South Korean President Lee Myung Bak has been granted a special pardon.
The 81-year-old conservative politician and former mayor of Seoul is the most prominent beneficiary of the decree that the government announced for a total of 1,373 convicts. The circle also includes other politicians and former officials.
He hopes that the decree will serve to “unite national power,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said at a cabinet meeting, according to TV channels. In South Korea, amnesties or mass pardons are often granted at the end of the year or on certain celebrations and anniversaries.
Unpaid penalties of 8.3 billion won eliminated
According to the Ministry of Justice, the current sentence will take effect on Wednesday. For Lee, this means that he will be released from the remainder of his sentence of about 15 years. Unpaid penalties of 8.3 billion won (about six million euros) are also to be canceled. Because of health problems and his old age, his prison term was suspended in June.
Lee was head of state from 2008 to 2013. In February 2020 he was sentenced to a long prison term in the second instance. Other charges included abuse of power, embezzlement and tax evasion. Among other things, he is said to have created slush funds and accepted bribes.
A year ago, Lee’s successor in the highest state office, Park Geun Hye, was released early from prison – at that time under the social-liberal President Moon Jae In. Park was embroiled in a major corruption scandal during her tenure. The Constitutional Court removed her from office in 2017. She was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption.
