The presidential office has addressed emerging political debates over reinstating former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo, saying that pardons and reinstatements are inherent to the executive authority of the president.

A presidential official made the remark on Saturday while noting that no final decision has been made on the matter. 

The comments came amid media reports that ruling People Power Party(PPP) chief Han Dong-hoon has expressed his opposition to the reinstatement of Kim, who was pardoned without reinstatement in 2022 while serving a two-year sentence in an online opinion-rigging scandal.

A key ruling party official told a local news agency that Han raised concern that many South Korean people will not agree with reinstating the liberal politician who has yet to express remorse for what he called an "offense of destroying democracy."

Kim, a close aide to former President Moon Jae-in, was convicted by the Supreme Court in 2021 of conspiring to manipulate online comments for Moon's election in 2017.

On Friday, the justice ministry's pardon review committee finalized candidacy for pardons and reinstatements, which could include Kim's reinstatement, to be reviewed by the Cabinet on Tuesday, before being approved by the president ahead of Liberation Day on Thursday.