Decision Slated to Come out Early August
Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has been placed on the list of candidates for parole on Aug. 15, the Independence Day of Korea.
The Seoul Detention Center has reportedly submitted a list of people eligible for parole, including Lee, to the Ministry of Justice.
The ministry's Parole Review Committee will hold a meeting early next month to conduct the final review of those eligible for parole.
Under the ministry’s regulations, inmates who have served more than 60 percent of their sentenced terms are eligible for parole. But social leaders, including high-ranking government officials and businessmen, and those who committed grave crimes are generally included as parole candidates when they have completed more than 90 percent of their terms. Lee will have served 60 percent of his sentence in August.
Lee was put behind bars at the Seoul Detention Center in January after being sentenced to two and a half years in prison in a trial on a reversed and remanded case in connection with the Choi Soon-sil case. A discussion on Lee's return to management began when the heads of five economic organizations submitted a joint pardon petition to Cheong Wa Dae (the Presidential Office of Korea) in April.
Cheong Wa Dae began to show some changes in dealing with the Lee’s case. In June, President Moon Jae-in had a luncheon with the representatives of the four major business groups, including Samsung. When the group leaders asked him to grant Lee a pardon, President Moon said, “I am aware of the issue and there are many people sharing such an opinion."
Some members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea preferred paroling Lee to pardoning him. "By August, Lee will have served 60 percent of his sentence and be qualified for a parole," said Song Young-gil, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, during his visit to Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong Campus on July 20. “The ruling party and the government are mulling over this issue in consideration of the semiconductor industry and people’s opinions.”
Unlike a pardon, which is the President's constitutional authority, a parole is politically less burdensome because the justice minister decides whether to parole a prisoner.