Ex-S.Korean President Park expresses gratitude for pardon

Seoul, Dec 24 (IANS) Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye has expressed gratitude for her pardon to President Moon Jae-in shortly after the announcement of the latter's decision to grant a special pardon to her, her lawyer said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Moon announced that he granted a special pardon to former President Park, currently serving a 22-year prison term for corruption, to bolster national unity and in consideration of her deteriorating health, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In a meeting with reporters in front of Seoul Samsung Hospital where she has been hospitalized, lawyer Yoo Yeong-ha said that Park feels sorry for worrying people and is grateful for their constant support.

The former leader also expressed gratitude to Moon for his decision to grant a special pardon to her despite difficulties, saying she will focus on treating her disease and will show her gratitude to the people as soon as possible, Yoo added.

Pardoning the former leader came as a surprise because Moon had ruled out the possibility of granting her a pardon.

This year, the 69-year-old Park was hospitalised three times due to chronic shoulder and lower back pain. In 2019, she underwent a shoulder surgery.

Park has been serving a combined 22-year prison sentence since March 2017 after being impeached and removed from office over far-reaching corruption charges and an influence-peddling scandal.

Meanwhile, the government also announced it will exonerate Han Myeong-sook, a former Prime Minister during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration who was convicted of bribery and has served her full prison sentence.

Han, who served as from 2006 to 2007, was imprisoned from 2015-2017 after being convicted of accepting about 900 million won ($$795,000) in illegal political funds from a late businessman while in office.

Han has long claimed innocence, arguing that she never accepted the money and that the charges against her were fabricated as part of political revenge by a conservative government against the former liberal administration of late President Roh Moo-hyun.