LIST OF SPECIAL PARDONS ANNOUNCED

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The first special pardons granted under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to mark the occasion of Liberation Day were announced Friday morning. As the government earlier stressed the pardons are aimed at reviving the economy, a large number of businesspeople and those who committed livelihood-related crimes have been included.

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The Yoon administration's first special pardons were carried out ahead of National Liberation Day. The list includes 1,693 individuals, among them, business tycoons and people convicted of petty crimes. 649 exemplary inmates will be paroled. Over 593-thousand others will see a special exemption on administrative sanctions such as suspended drivers and fishing licenses. The pardons are aimed at assisting public livelihood and economic recovery which explains the inclusion of 32 small-scale business people who committed crimes due to temporary financial woes. The list also includes eight labor officials, a move seen as boosting unity between labor and management. Among them a labor union chief of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a senior official of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the president of Hyundai Heavy Industries. As widely expected, Samsung Electronics Vice Chair Lee Jae-yong who was previously released on parole from prison will also see his rights reinstated. With the reinstatement, employment restrictions that were binding him for five years will disappear. Other business heavyweights include Lotte Group Chair Shin Dong-bin, Dongkuk Steel Mill chairman Chang Sae-joo and former STX Group Chairman Kang Duk-soo. Former President Lee Myung-bak has been excluded in line with the policy to keep pardoning politicians at a minimum. Former Gyeongsangnamdo Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo, serving time for online opinion rigging, is also excluded as well as former deputy prime minister Choi Kyoung-hwan, two former NIS chiefs and Jeon Byeong-heon, a former Democratic Party lawmaker.