High Ranking Government Official Says Pardon for Ex-President Lee Myung-bak May Happen in the Coming Weeks
It is looking like it is only a matter of time before ex-President Lee Myung-bak receives a pardon:
![Former President Lee Myung-bak [JOONGANG PHOTO]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/06/08/f3b4b615-d02b-4f21-b8c3-1aa2a70bb216.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
A high-level official in Yoon’s office told the JoongAng Ilbo Wednesday that the president will await the prosecutors’ decision. The head of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, Hong Seung-wook, is known to be close to Yoon, who formerly served as head of the state prosecution agency.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Even if Hong green-lights Lee’s suspension, the former president’s jail term will remain valid. Some legal experts predict Hong will authorize Lee’s suspension and Yoon will follow up with a presidential pardon on Liberation Day to finally set Lee free.
Talk about a pardon for Lee has been going for months, especially after former conservative President Park Geun-hye was pardoned last December by former liberal President Moon Jae-in.
You can read more at the link.
I never understood why 2MB was jailed. Was he insufficiently generous to Pyongyang? Did he refuse to koutou to Beijing?
He was jailed for the same reason as all the others: he was, at one point, the President.
@comfortable.chairs, good to see you are still lurking around!
Lee was jailed because he had the audacity to investigate former President Roh Moo-hyun for corruption. Roh had prided himself as being not corrupt like prior Presidents and Lee was going to prove that was not the case. When the investigation began to close in on his family members for corruption he committed suicide to end the investigation. The Korean left and most importantly former President Moon who was Roh’s Chief of Staff never forgot about this and went after Lee the first chance they could.
Even if Lee is freed with a pardon the Korean left succeeded in disgracing and imprisoning him for a number of years just like with President Park. Hopefully Yoon doesn’t continue this cycle by going after Moon and trying to jail him.
The Korean left and most importantly former President Moon who was Roh’s Chief of Staff never forgot about this and went after Lee the first chance they could.
@GIKorea
If setnaffa, said something like that than I would have just dismissed it as setnaffa trying to spin more of his right wing conspiracies.
But GIKorea….well it was surprising to say the least.
Anyways, I’m afraid you are reaching here.
LMB was charged and sentenced for embezzling from a company he owned and accepting bribes from Samsung in the form of paid legal fees.
Yes, it happened after Moon became President so one who does not like the leftist government may be inclined to think that “Oh, the leftists did it”
However it seems you did not take into account that the current President Yoon was the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul District Prosecutors Office when former Pres. Lee and Park were being investigated.
Yup.
The current President was at the helm when the prosecutors under him investigated and prosecuted former Pres. Lee and Park.
You did mention in the past that it was right for the prosecutors to go after Cho Kuk and his family for corruption.
Cho Kuk was also investigated by prosecutors under then Prosecutor General Yoon, who is now the current President.
Which means since investigators under Yoon unrevealed the truth about Cho Kuk, that means invesigators under Yoon also unrevealed the truth about Lee and Park and in the end were correct to investigate and prosecute them and that the sentences handed down by the courts were also justified.
To conclude, your theories about the Korean left going after and jailing former Pres, Lee and Park are BS.
@Korean Man, I didn’t say the LMB did not do what he was convicted of doing. He was convicted for using his brother’s auto parts business for embezzlements and bribes. Corruption using family members like we saw with Roh Moo-hyun has long been going on with Korean politicians. LMB opened the Pandora’s Box by going after Roh for doing the same thing. I contend that when Moon became President he would not have gone after LMB if he had not had prosecutors investigate Roh which led to his suicide.
@GIKorea
You are suggesting that former Pres. Moon ordered then Prosecutor Yoon to go after former Pres. Lee and Park, which would suggest that Yoon at that time was in Moon’s pocket.
But then how can you explain Yoon investigating Cho Kuk, someone who was close to Moon and was Moon’s appointee to the Justice Ministry and then becoming President under the PPP banner?
From the above, it is highly likely that Yoon investigates when he feels an investigation is warranted and not because Moon orders him to.