The government granted special presidential pardons to scores of business tycoons Monday on the occasion of this week's Liberation Day anniversary, including Park Chan-koo, honorary chairman of Kumho Petrochemical Group.

A total of 2,176 people were given special pardons that will legally take effect at the beginning of Tuesday, the Liberation Day anniversary that commemorates the end of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, according to officials.

These are the third presidential pardons since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May last year.

Among the beneficiaries are scores of big-name businesspeople, including Park; Lee Joong-keun, founder of Booyoung Group; and Chong Kun Dang Chairman Rhee Jang-han.

Lee and Park were given a prison term and a suspended prison term, respectively, both on charges of breach of duty, while Rhee was sentenced to prison on charges of bullying his driver.

The special pardons reinstate some of their rights restricted upon court sentences and allow them to resume business activities.

"The government seeks to use the special pardons as an opportunity to muster national power and reinvigorate the economy," a government official said.

Former Gangseo Ward office chief Kim Tae-woo was also given a pardon and had his right to run in official elections reinstated. He was given a suspended prison term on charges of leaking official secrets and ousted from office.

Source: Yonhap News Agency