South Korea: presidential pardon granted to former leader Lee Myung-bak
Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, center, during his first trial on May 23, 2018 in Seoul.
© Chung Sung-Jun/AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
There are no longer any former South Korean presidents sentenced to prison.
After Park Geun-hye's pardon in 2021, it is the turn of the former head of state, Lee Myung-bak, to receive the presidential pardon.
This very controversial figure had been sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption and embezzlement.
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With our correspondent in Seoul
,
Nicolas Rocca
Even if a possible decision in this direction had been mentioned in the press in recent days, it remains a strong political signal from the conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol.
These are
fifteen years in prison
, and nearly 16 million dollars in fines which disappear by presidential decision, from this Wednesday, November 28.
For Lee Myung-bak, president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013 and now 81 years old, this grace is saving, since in addition to the cancellation of his sentence, he will regain his privileges as of Wednesday. former head of state.
Symbol of the hard right
He had been sentenced in 2020 for corruption and embezzlement, because he had received tens of millions of dollars in bribes, in particular in exchange for the pardon of the ex-president of Samsung.
Lee Myung-bak had his sentence suspended for health reasons and only spent two years behind bars.
It now benefits from the political context.
At the lowest point in the polls in August, current President Yoon Suk-yeol initially did not want to pardon such a controversial figure.
As his popularity rating rises, he increasingly assumes his very conservative line.
After being firm in the face
of truck strikes
and very aggressive on the
North Korean issue
, Yoon pardons one of his predecessors, one of the symbols of a hard right.
► To read also: South Korea: the president orders the truck drivers of the cement sector to return to work
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South Korea
Lee Myung-bak
Yoon Suk-yeol