Seol's 'Special Envoys' Kim Ki-choon and Kim Kwan-jin... SK's Choi Jae-won and LIG's Koo Bon-sang Reinstated

by Heo Kyungjun

Published 06 Feb.2024 11:46(KST)

980 Granted Special Pardons for Lunar New Year, Over 450,000 Special Commutations, 942 Model Prisoners Paroled

Former Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin (Vice Chairman of the Presidential Defense Innovation Committee) and former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun will receive special pardons for the Lunar New Year.

Acting Minister of Justice Shim Woo-jung, Vice Minister, is announcing the 2024 Lunar New Year special pardon at the Government Seoul Office on the 6th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

On the 6th, the government held a briefing at the Seoul Government Complex and announced 980 individuals as recipients of the 'Lunar New Year Special Pardon.' Special relief measures for administrative sanctions related to passenger and cargo transportation, food service, livelihood fishing, and driver's licenses, as well as pardons for public official disciplinary actions, will be applied to a total of 455,398 people. Additionally, credit recovery support will be provided to approximately 2.98 million individuals with minor delinquency records. Furthermore, 942 model prisoners were granted parole as of the 30th of last month.

Considering the circumstances of the crimes and past pardon precedents, 24 individuals including former major public officials, politicians, and journalists were pardoned. Former lawmaker Lee Woo-hyun, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for receiving illegal funds amounting to billions of won from businessmen and local politicians, and former Defense Security Command staff officers Kim Dae-yeol and Ji Young-gwan, who were accused of ordering illegal surveillance of civilians including families of the Sewol ferry disaster victims, were exempted from serving the remainder of their sentences and had their civil rights restored.

Former Busan Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Seo Cheon-ho, who was tried for mobilizing the police to manipulate public opinion during the Lee Myung-bak administration, and former MBC executives Kim Jang-gyeom and Ahn Kwang-han were included among those whose sentences were nullified and who had their civil rights restored.

Five businesspeople, including Choi Jae-won, Senior Vice Chairman of SK Group, and Koo Bon-sang, Chairman of LIG, who completed prison terms or whose probation periods had expired for offenses committed during business operations, were also included in this special pardon. Since both had already served their sentences and been released, the pardon restored qualifications that had been lost or suspended due to their convictions.

Senior Vice Chairman Choi was convicted by the Supreme Court in February 2014 to three years and six months in prison for embezzling 46.5 billion won of fund investment money from SK Group affiliates in collusion with his elder brother, Chairman Choi Tae-won, and using it for futures options investments. He was released on parole in 2016.

Chairman Koo was sentenced to four years in prison in 2012 for issuing corporate bonds (CP) while knowing that LIG Construction was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was released upon completion of his sentence in 2016.

The government explained that special pardons and restoration of civil rights were granted to general criminal offenders such as small and medium-sized business owners, small merchants, and transportation workers, as well as economic contributors to exports and former major public officials with high national contributions.