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.