North Korea will reportedly grant large-scale pardons ahead of the 70th anniversary of the regime's foundation on September ninth.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) reported on Monday that the North will pardon those who are convicted of crimes starting August first. 

The KCNA said that the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country's rubber-stamp legislature, announced the decision in an ordinance on Thursday.

The report said that the North's Cabinet and related organizations will come up with practical measures to help prisoners to return to ordinary life when they are released, without elaborating how many people will be freed.

North Korea previously granted prisoner amnesty on a large scale in 2015 in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the foundation of the North's Workers' Party. 

It also pardoned prisoners in 2012 to commemorate the birthdays of the regime’s late former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.

In 2005, the North granted pardons to mark the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule and the establishment of the Workers' Party.

[Photo : YONHAP News]