President Lee Jae Myung (L) bangs the gavel during an extraordinary Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in Seoul on Aug. 11, 2025, to review a list of special pardons. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae Myung’s special pardons for political figures, businesspeople and low-level offenders aim to promote national unity and revitalize the local economy, the presidential office said Monday.
During an extraordinary Cabinet meeting, Lee approved special pardons and reinstatement for 2,188 individuals on the occasion of Liberation Day, which falls on Friday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters.
The first round of pardons under the Lee administration included politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, low-income offenders, businesspeople and labor representatives.
Among the notable beneficiaries is former minority leader Cho Kuk, who is currently serving a two-year prison term for academic fraud involving his children and unlawful interference with a government inspection. Cho, who previously led the Rebuilding Korea Party, also served as justice minister under former President Moon Jae-in in 2019.
“President Lee agreed with the Ministry of Justice’s list of pardons as a way to meet the demand for national unity and to breathe new life into the livelihood economy,” Kang said in a briefing. “We hope this measure will provide an opportunity for political restoration through dialogue and reconciliation.”
The pardons were intended to ease social tensions heightened by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration last December and to help revive the stagnant economy, according to the office.
During the meeting, Lee also instructed relevant ministries to compile cases involving livelihood offenders so their pardon status can be reviewed by Christmas, Kang said.
Special pardons have often been granted to convicted politicians, business executives and other offenders at the start of a new year or around Liberation Day, which commemorates the 1945 end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea.
(Yonhap)
