Presidential pardons set to be announced around next week's Liberation Day are expected to focus on public livelihoods, including those who have committed an offense due to economic hardship or small business owners facing administrative restrictions.

The presidential office is reportedly in the process of collecting various opinions regarding the pardons and reinstatements, before the justice ministry convenes a pardon review committee on Thursday to narrow down the candidacy.

Following a review of the list by the Cabinet on August 13, President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to finalize it, exercising his inherent right to pardon for the fifth time since taking office in May 2022.

While Yoon is likely to minimize political pardons, some potential candidates in the upcoming pardon or reinstatement include former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo and former culture minister and senior presidential political affairs secretary Cho Yoon-sun.

Kim, a close confidant of former President Moon Jae-in, had been serving a two-year sentence for conspiring to manipulate online opinions in favor of Moon ahead of the 2017 presidential election, before being pardoned without reinstatement in 2022.

Cho, an ex-presidential aide from the Park Geun-hye administration, had served a 14-month sentence for her role in drawing up a blacklist of cultural organizations or artists critical of the government.