(LEAD) Yoon likely to ask Moon to grant special pardon to ex-President Lee

All News 20:35 March 14, 2022

(ATTN: ADDS new meeting schedule in paras 1-4)

SEOUL, March 14 (Yonhap) -- President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to ask President Moon Jae-in to grant a special pardon to jailed former President Lee Myung-bak when they hold a meeting this week, a senior official close to Yoon said Monday.

Moon and Yoon are scheduled to meet at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, according to political sources.

They will discuss a range of issues, including government transition, coronavirus responses and North Korea's likely long-range missile test, during the meeting, which will be their first since June 2020, when Yoon was prosecutor general, they said.

Yoon is expected to request a special pardon for Lee, who was president from 2008-13 and has been serving a 17-year sentence for embezzlement and bribery.

"We cannot rule out the possibility of asking President Moon to pardon former President Lee," an official close to Yoon said.

Lee was excluded from the recent presidential pardons for the new year, under which ex-President Park Geun-hye was set free from prison.

Yoon has voiced support for pardoning Lee, citing his old age and deteriorating health.

Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) also publicly asked Moon to grant a pardon to Lee.

In a Facebook posting, PPP floor leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon urged Moon to grant a pardon to the former President Lee and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted for bribery but is currently out on parole.

Kim claimed the two should be pardoned for national unity.

In January, the former President Lee was admitted to a hospital for an unspecified chronic illness.

It marked Lee's first hospitalization this year. He visited a hospital three times last year for chronic diseases, including diabetes.