Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Pardoned by Yoon – The Diplomat

Within the few days earlier than the top of 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol invoked his presidential powers to pardon over 1,300 high-profile politicians, former officers, and leaders. It was his third spherical of pardons since he assumed workplace in Might 2021. Yoon and members of his administration have mentioned that these pardons are being granted in an effort to advertise “nationwide unity.”

Essentially the most distinguished beneficiary of this spherical of presidential pardons was Lee Myung-bak, a former South Korean president who was in workplace from 2008 to 2013. In 2020, Lee was charged with embezzling greater than 30 billion received ($23 million) and amassing bribes from a wide range of establishments, together with Samsung, whereas on the marketing campaign path and after he went into workplace in 2008. Lee was sentenced to 17 years in jail and the South Korean courts imposed a 13 billion received ($10 million) wonderful on him.

Lee was serving his 17-year sentence when Yoon issued his pardon, which went into impact on December 28. The pardon not solely canceled the remaining 15 years of Lee’s sentence, but additionally voided the unpaid 8.2 billion received of the 13 billion received wonderful.

Lee was seen for the primary time upon launch in his neighborhood, the place he made no point out of the pardons and as a substitute referred to as for unity amid the coronavirus pandemic. The principle opposition Democratic Get together members have reacted negatively to Lee’s launch, arguing that Yoon is granting pardons to deprave politicians and former officers, together with those that served within the controversial Park Geun-hye administration. Lee and Park are conservatives, like Yoon and his Folks Energy Get together.

Pre-empting the backlash from progressives, Yoon additionally granted a particular pardon to Kim Kyoung-soo, a former governor of South Gyeongsang province, who was additionally near Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in. In 2019, Kim was sentenced to 2 years in jail for opinion-rigging operations previous to the particular presidential election in 2017.

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Nonetheless, as Kim solely had 5 months left in his sentence, the DP criticized Yoon’s determination, arguing he used Kim as a protect to pardon Lee. Actually, Yoon granted the particular pardon regardless of Kim’s hand-written letter stating that he doesn’t need to be pardoned. As Kim was pardoned with out reinstatement, he stays barred from working for workplace till December 2027.

Pardoning former South Korean presidents who’ve been convicted of corruption will not be an anomaly, and as a substitute appears to be the norm. Then-South Korean President Moon ran on a platform of no sympathy for public and company officers convicted of corruption, pledging to scrub the swamp and finish the follow altogether as soon as he was in workplace. Due to this fact, he obtained immense criticism when, on the finish of 2021, he pardoned the disgraced former president Park, who was reported to be severely unwell, in efforts to advertise nationwide unity.

Moon’s pardon of Park, which undermined his platform, got here at an especially heated time in South Korea’s presidential election marketing campaign, whereas Park’s staunch conservative supporters have been pushing for her launch. South Korea’s first feminine president and the nation’s first democratically elected chief to be ousted from workplace, Park was discovered responsible of collusion and corruption, and sentenced to twenty years in jail. Her scandal sowed seeds of public distrust relating to the murky relationships between politicians and elite enterprise officers.

Like Moon, Yoon additionally cited the promotion of nationwide unity and cohesion because the motive for granting particular pardons to controversial figures. But he too has confronted hefty criticism for his actions. Yoon rose to prominence whereas he was a former chief prosecutor for his profitable prosecution of each Lee and Park for his or her crimes. His pardon of Lee weakens the graft-busting picture he constructed earlier than his presidency.

Yoon at present faces a divided conservative entrance, the place supporters are loyal to both Lee or Park. There are suspicions that the releases of each former presidents, large figures within the conservative social gathering, are supposed to impress and unite these two blocs of conservative Koreans.