FILE PHOTO: South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
December 24, 2021
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in is likely to grant a pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, currently in prison after being convicted of corruption, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing a senior official at the ruling party.
Park became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when, in 2017, the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote to impeach her over a scandal that also landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail.
She was brought down after being found guilty of colluding with a confidante to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help her family and fund nonprofit foundations she owned. In January, South Korea’s top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Park on the graft charges that led to her downfall, bringing an end to the legal process and for the first time raising the possibility of a pardon.
“I understand that ex-President Park is included on a list of people who are to be granted pardons,” the unnamed official told Yonhap News Agency.
The presidential Blue House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Ruling Democratic Party lawmakers have previously floated the idea of a pardon for Park and another ex-president, Lee Myung-bak, in the name of national unity.
Park, 69, has experienced health problems while in prison, including undergoing shoulder surgery, according to South Korean media.
(Reporting by Josh Smith in Seoul; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
