4,378 Convicts Pardoned to Mark March 1 Independence Movement Day

The government on Tuesday said it will grant special pardons to 4,378 people, mostly those involved in political protests and convicted of crimes for the sake of their livelihoods, this week to mark the centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement.

The beneficiaries included 19 people that were found guilty of staging violent rallies against a government plan to build a naval base on the southern Jeju Island, the Ministry of Justice said in a release.

The pardons to be conducted Thursday will be offered to seven others who took part in the protests against Ssangyong Motor Co.'s restructuring plan that entailed a huge layoff of its workers.

About 50 others included the demonstrators who took part in protests against the deployment of a US anti-missile system, and a controversial 2015 agreement between the previous conservative government and Tokyo regarding Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of women.

It is the second time the Moon Jae-in government has granted amnesty to convicted offenders.

The government announced pardons to some 6,400 people in late 2017, the president's first year in office.

The list, finalized at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, did not include the names...