SEOUL– A former left-wing lawmaker convicted of instigating a rebellion to overthrow the South Korean government in case of a war with North Korea will be released on parole later this week, according to sources Thursday.
Lee Seok-ki, the convicted former member of the now-disbanded minor opposition Unified Progressive Party, is scheduled to be released from a detention center in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, Friday.
His release was reportedly decided by a justice ministry parole review committee Monday. He has served most of his 9-year prison sentence set until September 2022.
Lee was indicted in 2013 on charges of conspiring with members of a clandestine organization to topple the government if a war with North Korea broke out. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2014, but a high court commuted the term to 9 years, which was later confirmed by the Supreme Court in January 2015.
Source: Yonhap News Agency