The Ministry of Justice has announced it will release more than one thousand inmates from prison in a mass amnesty marking the August 15th Liberation Day.

Among those being freed is the former vice commissioner of the National Tax Service (Lee Seuk-hee). He was sentenced to one and a half years in prison last December for pressuring business tycoons to make illegal campaign donations to the opposition Grand National Party's former presidential candidate, Lee Hoi-chang.

The number of prisoners to be freed on the occasion of this year's Liberation Day totals 1,057. A ministry spokesman says the number is 300 larger than in previous Liberation Day amnesties because there will be no special presidential pardons this year.

South Korea's president has cutomarily issued a special amnesty annually to celebrate the nation's liberation from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945.