President Yoon Suk Yeol is reportedly considering granting a special pardon to former presidential national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday next week.

The top office said that this year's list of presidential pardons has not been finalized but did not specifically refute the media reports about Kim's pardon. 

Kim, who served as former President Park Geun-hye's national security chief, was sentenced to two years in prison in the Seoul High Court last year on charges of instructing the military cyber command to post online comments in favor of the ruling camp ahead of the general and presidential elections in 2012. 

The 74-year old former four-star general, however, was not immediately incarcerated following the ruling, which he had filed for an appeal.

Amid speculations about presidential exoneration of him and other ex-Park administration officials, Kim last month opted to withdraw his decision to appeal, making the high court's two-year prison sentence final. 

President Yoon in a controversial decision last year appointed Kim pending trial as vice-chairman of the presidential national defense innovation committee. 

The final decision on special pardons is made by the President after deliberation by the Ministry of Justice's Pardon Review Committee and the State Council.