This composite image provided by Yonhap News TV shows former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk (R) and his wife, Chung Kyung-sim. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Former minor party leader Cho Kuk will be granted a special pardon on the occasion of Liberation Day, the justice ministry said Monday, cutting short his two-year prison term over charges in connection with his daughter.
Cho will be granted an exemption of his sentence under the presidential amnesty Friday, marking Liberation Day, which commemorates the 1945 end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea.
It would mark the Lee Jae Myung administration’s first series of special pardons since he took office in early June.
Cho, who formerly headed the Rebuilding Korea Party and had served as a justice minister in 2019, is currently serving a two-year prison term after the Supreme Court in December upheld his conviction for academic fraud involving his children and unlawful interference with a government inspection.
Cho was on a list of more than 830,000 people who will receive special pardons, including his wife, Chung Kyung-sim, who received a suspended sentence for forging documents related to her son’s college admission, according to the ministry.
Former lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang leaves the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken Nov. 14, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Other politicians who received special pardons include former lawmaker Choe Kang-wook, who was convicted of issuing a false internship certificate for Cho’s son, and former Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, who was convicted of embezzling funds donated to help support women who were forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan during World War II.
Among business leaders, Choi Shin-won, former CEO and chairman of SK Networks Co., who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for embezzlement, was included on the list.
It also included former Samsung Electronics executives who were found guilty in a bribery case involving a close associate of former President Park Geun-hye, including Choi Gee-sung, former head of Samsung’s now-disbanded Future Strategy Office.
“The special pardons were focused on providing an opportunity for national unity and reviving the economy,” Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said. “Through the special pardons, (I) hope that social conflicts are resolved and national unity will be achieved.”
(Yonhap)
