She faced a prison term of more than two decades before Moon pardoned her in December, citing a need to promote unity in the politically divided nation. World & Nation South Koreans get a peek inside their presidential palace for the first time in 74 yearsįor most South Koreans, the Blue House, where their presidents have lived and worked, is a little-visited, heavily secured mountainside landmark.įormer President Park was convicted of a broad range of corruption crimes, including colluding with her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil in the taking of millions of dollars in bribes and extortion payments from Samsung and other major companies while she was in office. “President Yoon Suk-yeol’s sellout sends a signal to chaebol chiefs that they are free to commit all the crimes they want,” the groups said, accusing Yoon of damaging the rule of law. Chang Sae-joo, chairman of Dongkuk Steel Mill, and former STX Group Chairman Kang Duk-soo will also receive clemency.Ī coalition of civic groups, including People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, issued a statement criticizing the move to pardon the business leaders, accusing Yoon of cozying up to South Korea’s “chaebol,” the family-owned conglomerates that dominate the country’s economy. Lee still faces a separate trial on charges of stock price manipulation and auditing violations related to the 2015 merger.Īmong others set to be pardoned is Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who received a suspended prison term in 2018 on similar charges of bribing Park, whom then-President Moon Jae-in pardoned in December. The popularity of “Squid Game” is inseparable from South Korea’s very real crisis of mounting household debt, gaping inequality and a weak social safety net. World & Nation The seedy world of private lending in ‘Squid Game’ is a real temptation in South Korea That reflects the continuing hold Samsung has on a country where it makes not just smartphones and TVs but also issues credit cards, builds luxury apartment buildings and runs the country’s most sought-after hospital.īusiness leaders and politicians had also called for Lee’s pardon, which they said would allow Samsung, one of the world’s largest makers of computer memory chips and smartphones, to be bolder and quicker in business decisions by fully reinstating his rights to run the business empire. While some civic groups criticized the decision to pardon Lee, recent opinion polls have indicated that South Koreans - years removed from the protests in 20 - largely supported the idea. The demonstrations eventually led to Park’s ouster from office. Park and the confidant were also convicted in the scandal, which enraged South Koreans, who staged massive protests for months demanding an end to the shady ties between business and politics. Lee, 54, was convicted in 2017 of bribing former President Park Geun-hye and her close confidant to win government support for a merger between two Samsung affiliates that tightened Lee’s control over the corporate empire.
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