South Korea pardons Lee for corruption charges WGN Radio 720

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Yoon Seok-yeol’s South Korean government announced on Tuesday that it would grant a special pardon to former president Lee Myung-bak, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for a series of corruption crimes. .

In a statement, the Justice Ministry said Lee was one of the 1,373 prisoners to be amnesty on Wednesday. He said he had 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 over health concerns.

The CEO-turned-conservative was accused of taking bribes from large corporations such as Samsung, embezzling funds from companies he owned, and committing other corruption-related crimes before and during his presidency from 2008 to 2013. was convicted of the crime of

He was South Korea’s first business-born president and once symbolized South Korea’s economic rise. He began his business career in the mid-1960s with an entry-level job in the construction division of the Hyundai Group, then rose to become CEO of his ten companies under the Hyundai Group as the South Korean economy exploded from the flames of war. led the group’s rapid growth during a period of rapid growth. Debris from the Korean War of 1950-53.

Lee’s corruption scandal erupted after his successor and fellow conservative Park Geun-hye was ousted and imprisoned in another 2016-17 corruption scandal. A series of scandals deeply hurt conservatives in South Korea and deepened national divisions.

After serving a lengthy prison term, Park was pardoned in December 2021, when South Korea was ruled by Yoon’s liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in.