Former President Park Geun-hye will be officially released from prison on a presidential pardon overnight Thursday.
According to the justice ministry, procedures for Park’s release will be implemented at a hospital in Seoul where she is currently receiving treatment around 12 a.m. Friday, which is when the pardon will go into effect.
Park was hospitalized on November 22 and was set to receive treatment for roughly a month, but later was recommended by doctors to stay at least six weeks. She is expected to stay until early February.
Park’s health was a key factor that President Moon Jae-in took into account in granting her a special pardon. And though free, she won’t receive privileges accorded to a former president, though she will be provided a security detail.
Park was included on a list of three-thousand-94 recipients of special pardons, commutations and restoration of rights that the government announced last Friday ahead of the new year.
After being imprisoned on March 31, 2017, Park has served four years and nine months of a combined 22-year prison term for abuse of power, bribery and embezzlement.