ⓒYONHAP News

Former President Lee Myung-bak and former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo are expected to receive presidential pardons ahead of the new year. 

The justice ministry's pardon review committee held a meeting on Friday. And according to political and legal circles, the committee decided to include Lee and Kim in the list of special presidential pardons.

The former president, whose 17-year prison sentence for corruption was suspended due to health reasons, will be granted a pardon with reinstatement. 

Former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo, a close aide to former President Moon Jae-in, will also receive a pardon, but without reinstatement, which will disqualify him from running for office until 2028.

Kim was sentenced to two years in prison in July last year on charges of manipulating online opinions in favor of Moon ahead of the 2017 presidential election. His prison term is set to end in May of next year. 

The review panel will report the list of people up for clemency to justice minister Han Dong-hoon, who will in turn make a report to President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The president will finalize the list in a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and grant pardons on Wednesday.