Pardon list excludes figures linked to ousted president

A Ministry of Justice review of candidates for special presidential pardons ahead of Liberation Day on Aug. 15 excluded key political and business figures implicated in a bribery scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye.

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, center, speaks to reporters at Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, Wednesday ahead of convening a committee to review special pardon candidates to be recommended to President Yoon Suk Yeol ahead of Liberation Day next week. [YONHAP]

A Ministry of Justice review of candidates for special presidential pardons ahead of Liberation Day on Aug. 15 excluded key political and business figures implicated in a bribery scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye.

The Justice Ministry convened on Wednesday a special pardon review committee, comprised of nine members including Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon.

Business and political leaders had speculated that President Yoon Suk Yeol might grant amnesty to key figures involved in the influence-peddling scandal surrounding Park and her close confidante Choi Soon-sil.

Mass protests led to Park's historic impeachment by the National Assembly in December 2016 and removal from office in March 2017 over charges of corruption and abuse of power.

The ministry's shortlist included Kim Tae-woo, the former head of the Gangseo District Office in Seoul, according to legal sources Wednesday. Kim, a member of Yoon's conservative People Power Party, was ousted from his post after the Supreme Court in May upheld his conviction for leaking official secrets during his tenure at the Blue House under the Moon Jae-in administration.

The former prosecution investigator was charged with leaking official secrets to the media while he was assigned to a special investigative team under the chief presidential secretary for civil affairs from December 2018 to February 2019.

This would be the third time Yoon will be granting presidential pardons. Previous recipients include Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and other business leaders on Liberation Day last year and politicians including former President Lee Myung-bak, who was serving a 17-year prison term for bribery and embezzlement, on New Year's Day at the beginning of this year.

"The granting of special pardons is a procedure stipulated by constitutional law and a political decision of the president," Han told reporters ahead of the meeting at Gwacheon in Gyeonggi.

This round of pardons is expected to mainly focus on businesspeople including Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun, who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for embezzlement in 2020. Others included Park Chan-gu, honorary chairman of Kumho Petrochemical, and Lee Ho-jin, former chairman of Taekwang Group, also convicted on charges of embezzlement.

However, it will exclude Choi Gee-sung, a former director of Samsung's now-disbanded Future Strategy Office, and his former deputy director, Chang Choong-ki, implicated in the bribery scandal related to Park and her confidante Choi, despite expectation in business circles that they would be granted special amnesties.

They were involved in a controversial $8 billion merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015.

They were sentenced to two years and six months in prison by the Supreme Court in 2021 for offering bribes to Park and Choi and were released on parole in March 2022.

Former President Park, who was convicted of corruption and abuse of power and sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison, was pardoned in late December 2021 by the Moon Jae-in government. She was granted amnesty in consideration of her deteriorating health.

An Chong-bum, a former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination and former Second Vice Culture Minister Kim Chong are also not expected to be included in the latest pardons despite speculation they will be included.

Both men served under the Park administration and were charged with abuse of power.

An was handed a prison sentence of four years by the Supreme Court for strong-arming conglomerates to make large contributions to two nonprofit foundations tied to Park's confidant Choi and was later released in September 2021.

Kim was sentenced to two years in prison and released on parole in January this year.

Others initially mentioned included Hong Wan-sun, former head of the National Pension Service, sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, a move seen have been aimed at tightening Samsung de facto leader Lee's grip over the conglomerate. This merger was associated with Park's corruption scandal.

The pardon review committee will report the shortlist to President Yoon, who will have the final say.

Those eligible for pardon are usually pardoned at midnight after approval by the Cabinet, which will likely hold a meeting ahead of Liberation Day next Tuesday.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]