Former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kyoung-soo says he will seek ways to contribute to society.

As the government announced presidential pardons, including the reinstatement of Kim's political rights following his 2021 conviction, the former governor took to Facebook on Tuesday to address the decision. 

Ahead of the reinstatement of his rights later this week that will allow him to run for public office, Kim said that he will reflect on his past while apologizing to the public for causing concern. 

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. He was pardoned without reinstatement in 2022 while serving a two-year sentence in an online opinion-rigging scandal.

Kim is currently studying in Germany and is expected to return to South Korea at the end of this year.