South Korea's President Moon Jae-in granted a pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, who is in prison after being convicted of corruption, the Justice Ministry said on Friday, amid a tight presidential race.
Park, 69, became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote in 2017 to impeach her over a scandal that also landed the heads of two conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, in jail.
She was brought down after being found guilty of colluding with a confidante to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help her family and fund nonprofit foundations she owned.