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Cho Kuk Included on Liberation Day Pardon List

The Justice Ministry committee recommended clemency for Cho Kuk, alongside other prominent figures, with a Cabinet review set for August 12.

This file photo shows Cho Kuk, former leader of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party, posing as he arrives at Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, on Dec. 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
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Overview

  • A Justice Ministry committee decided August 7 to include former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk, currently serving a two-year sentence for academic fraud and interference, among the provisional pardon beneficiaries.
  • The provisional roster also names former lawmakers Choe Kang-wook, Jung Chan-min and Hong Moon-jong along with ex-SK Networks chairman Choi Shin-won.
  • Former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young was notably excluded from the committee’s recommendations.
  • The Cabinet is scheduled to finalize the special pardon list on August 12 before President Lee Jae-myung formally issues decrees on Liberation Day, August 15.
  • The inclusion of high-profile political and business figures highlights the tension between upholding judicial finality and exercising executive clemency to promote national reconciliation.