{"id":2199796,"date":"2022-12-29T10:12:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T10:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199796"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:10:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:10:28","slug":"what-an-ex-presidents-pardon-means-for-the-future-of-south-koreas-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/12\/what-an-ex-presidents-pardon-means-for-the-future-of-south-koreas-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"What an ex-president\u2019s pardon means for the future of South Korea\u2019s opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Yoon Suk-yeol <\/span>granted<\/span><\/a> special pardons to 1,373 convicts on Wednesday, and two of the most high-profile South Koreans to receive pardons were former President Lee Myung-bak and former provincial governor Kim Kyoung-soo.<\/span><\/p>\n Lee was <\/span>sentenced<\/span><\/a> to a 17-year prison term for various corruption crimes but was <\/span>released from prison temporarily in June<\/span><\/a> over health concerns. Kim, a former South Gyeongsang Province governor, was serving a two-year prison term for his <\/span>involvement<\/span><\/a> in an online opinion-rigging scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n The ROK has a long and well-established <\/span>history<\/span><\/a> of jailing its former leaders and Yoon was responsible for several of their convictions as Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office chief from 2017 to 2018. Yoon sent <\/span>dozens<\/span><\/a> of officials to prison, including former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.<\/span><\/p>\n