“I will work harder and fulfill my duties as an entrepreneur,” Lee said after his pardon was granted. “I will contribute to the economy through continuous investment and job creation for young people, and repay the expectations of the people and the government’s consideration.”
Lee has been operating as Samsung’s de facto leader since 2014, when his father fell into coma after suffering a heart attack. The senior Lee died in 2020.
His pardon comes ahead of the country’s Liberation Day which marks the liberation of Korea from Japanese imperial rule in 1945. The South Korean government often grants pardons around Liberation Day.
Lee, also known widely as Jay Y. Lee, had been sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement and bribery in August 2017, but he walked free after less than a year in 2018 when an appeals court threw out some of the charges and suspended the sentence.
However, Lee was sent back to prison in January 2021 after being sentenced to two and a half years without a suspension after the Seoul High Court found him guilty of embezzlement and bribery. He was released on parole on Liberation Day last August.
Along with Lee, Lotte Group’s Chairman Shin Dong-bin and two other business leaders were included in the group pardoned or reinstated by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
South Korea’s Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon on Friday said, “To overcome the economic crisis by revitalizing the economy, Samsung’s Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who’s term has recently ended, will be reinstated.”
No employment restrictions for Lee
The pardon paves the way for Lee to work without restrictions.
However, his legal troubles may not be over.
That case is still pending.
