Ministry of Justice to Hold Pardon Committee Meeting Next Week... Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye, and Han Myeong-sook Likely Excluded from Special Pardon

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Ministry of Justice will hold a pardon review committee (Pardon Committee) meeting next week ahead of Christmas to select candidates for the New Year's special pardon. This is expected to be the last pardon implemented under the current administration. Former presidents and politicians, who had attracted much attention, are expected to be excluded from the special pardon list.

According to the legal community on the 17th, Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, will hold a full meeting of the Pardon Committee on the 20th and 21st to decide the fifth special pardon candidates under President Moon Jae-in.

The Pardon Committee consists of a total of nine members, with the Minister of Justice serving as the chairperson. Once the committee selects the candidates, the Minister of Justice reports to the president, who then exercises the pardon authority after the Cabinet meeting's resolution.

The special pardon candidates, decided by the president's exercise of authority, are expected to be announced by the end of this month. The policy is known to focus on 'livelihood-related offenders.' President Moon's existing principle of restricting pardon authority for five major serious corruption crimes?bribery, solicitation and acceptance of bribes, breach of trust, and embezzlement?is also expected to be reflected.

Accordingly, politicians such as former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, who are currently imprisoned, former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, and former Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok-ki are reported to be excluded from this special pardon.

It is also known that Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics (on parole), who has been steadily requesting a pardon mainly from the business community, is unlikely to be included in this pardon list.

Under the current administration, there have been a total of four special pardons, starting with the New Year's special pardon at the end of 2017.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.