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| President Yoon Suk-yeol answers reporters' questions while reporting to work at the presidential office in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
Speculation is growing that jailed former President Lee Myung-bak could be pardoned in August after President Yoon Suk-yeol said, Thursday, that it would not be appropriate to keep him behind bars for decades.
"I think it is not right for him to be imprisoned for over two decades based on similar instances in the past," Yoon told reporters as he arrived at the presidential office.
His remark was a shift in tone from the previous day when he seemed not likely to free Lee, who has been serving a 17-year jail term since November 2020 for embezzlement and bribery.
Yoon, who had been advocating for releasing the former president as soon as possible during the campaign period and right after his election, said, Wednesday, that pardoning Lee is not an issue to talk about right now, raising conjecture that he may have changed his mind after winning the election in March.
Speculation over a possible pardon for Lee comes as the 80-year-old has filed a petition for a suspension of his sentence to the Anyang branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, according to the prosecution.
A prisoner over age 70 who is in poor health or whose life cannot be sustained under imprisonment is eligible to receive a suspension of penalty, depending on the prosecution's opinion.
While in prison, Lee has been in and out of the hospital several times for treatment of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and bronchitis. He also received cataract surgery last year.
In response to his request, the Anyang prosecutors will conduct field research and report to the Suwon office, which will form a deliberation committee comprising legal, medical and academic specialists and members of the public to reach a final decision on Lee's sentence.
In that respect, if Lee's petition is accepted by mid- or late July, he could make the list of presidential pardons on the occasion of National Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15. Each administration has used national holidays to grant paroles or presidential pardons under the pretext of national unity.
When former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo were convicted of treason and mutiny in 1996 for their roles in the 1979 coup and the 1980 Gwangju massacre, both of them were pardoned the following year.
Former President Park Geun-hye was also pardoned in December 2021, after serving five years of a 22-year prison sentence following her conviction on a series of corruption charges.
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