The justice ministry has decided to defer a decision on whether to grant parole to President Yoon Suk Yeol's mother-in-law, who is behind bars for forgery. 
 
The ministry convened its regular parole review on Tuesday and reached such a decision for 77-year-old Choi Eun-soon after considering various factors, including her age, motive, crime, correctional record, and risk of recidivism.

A decision can be deferred in the event the parole review committee members fail to come to an agreement. 

As a result, whether Choi will be granted parole is likely to be determined during the ministry’s next regular review in July. 

Choi is currently serving a one-year sentence at the Dongbu Detention Center in southeastern Seoul following her conviction last July for forging financial documents in the process of purchasing a land in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province in 2013. She has completed 70 percent of her sentence.

Under the current law, a person who's sentenced to a fixed prison term can be paroled after one-third of the sentence has been served, but in practice, the ministry usually considers those who have served 50 to 90 percent for preliminary review.