The South Korean government of President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday it will grant a special pardon to former President Lee Myung-bak, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for a series of corruption offences. The Justice Ministry said in a statement that Lee was among 1,373 convicts set to be pardoned on Wednesday. He said he has decided to include some politicians, such as Lee, as part of efforts to promote national unity.
Lee, 81, was temporarily released from prison in June due to ill health. The CEO turned conservative hero had been convicted of taking bribes from big companies, including Samsung, embezzling funds from a company he owned and other corruption-related crimes before and during his presidency from 2008 to 2013. He was the first South Korean president with a business background and once symbolized the country’s economic boom.
He began his business career with an entry-level job at Hyundai Group’s construction arm in the mid-1960s, before rising to CEO of 10 companies under Hyundai Group and led the group’s rapid rise at a time when that South Korea’s economy has grown explosively since the 1960s. the rubble of the 1950-53 Korean War. Lee’s corruption case erupted after her successor and fellow conservative Park Geun-hye was ousted and jailed for another 2016-17 corruption scandal. Back-to-back scandals deeply damaged conservatives in South Korea and deepened national division.
Park, who was serving a long prison term, was pardoned in December 2021, when South Korea was ruled by Yoon’s liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in.
