South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday gave pardons to 6,527 people, including the chairman of the country's third-largest conglomerate, the SK Group, citing, in part, Seoul's efforts to revive a sputtering economy.
The pardons announced by the justice minister come amid South Koreans' growing discontent over the conduct of the family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol, that dominate Asia's fourth-largest economy.
The heavy-handed conduct of South Korea's rich and powerful made headlines worldwide with last December's "nut rage" case after the daughter of an airline chairman took offense at the way she had been served macadamia nuts.