S.Korea's Moon pardons disgraced Park amid tight presidential race

FILE PHOTO: South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's President Moon Jae-in granted a pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, who was in prison after being convicted of corruption, the justice ministry said on Friday, amid a tight presidential race.

Park, 69, became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote in 2017 to impeach her over a scandal https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-park-idUSKCN1HD0MN that also landed the heads of two conglomerates, including Samsung, in jail.