Will Yoon pardon former president?
Former President Lee Myung-bak / Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Jailed former President Lee Myung-bak, 80, has filed for a suspension of his sentence due to health issues, raising speculation over whether his request may lead to a pardon by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Lee, who headed the country from 2008 to 2013, has been serving a 17-year jail term since November 2020 for embezzlement and corruption, and Yoon was a lead investigator in the cases that resulted in Lee's imprisonment. He is now detained at Anyang Correctional Institution in Gyeonggi Province.
According to the prosecution, Lee filed a petition for a suspension of his sentence to the Anyang branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, Friday.
A prisoner aged over 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 prosecutor's opinion.
While in prison, Lee has been in and out of the hospital several times for treatment of chronic diseases including 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.
The petition comes as the ruling People Power Party (PPP) has been calling for the swift release of the former president, citing his old age and deteriorating health, as part of its bid to win over conservative voters for the local elections held at the start of this month.
PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, a close aide to President Yoon, said, Wednesday, that pardoning Lee “could be necessary to achieve national unity and prestige.”
“It is unfair that two former presidents had been behind bars, with only one of them being pardoned,” Kweon said during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul.
The other former leader was Park Geun-hye, who was pardoned mainly due to her deteriorating health by former President Moon Jae-in in December 2021, after serving 5 years of a 22-year prison sentence following her conviction on a series of corruption charges. However, Lee was excluded on the grounds that he had not served a sufficient portion of his term, as well as low public support for the move.
Yoon himself also urged the government to set Lee free on multiple occasions during the election campaign and following his election, on the grounds of promoting national unity.
Should Lee be set free, it could be carried out on National Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15. Each government has used national holidays to grant paroles or presidential pardons under the pretext of national unity.
However, President Yoon seems to have done an about-face on the issue after winning the election in March.
On his way to the presidential office on Wednesday morning, Yoon told reporters that pardoning Lee is “not an issue to talk about right now.”