The Samsung heir and top executive was one of 1,692 people to be pardoned on Liberation Day, a national holiday celebrating the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945. The move clears him of the conviction of bribing former President Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap News Agency) 

Talking point: The de-facto chief of the conglomerate could now return amid a leadership void at the major chipmaker, The Korea Herald reported, at a time when companies like Samsung are under pressure to help spur an economic recovery after the pandemic. (Fellow executive Shin Dong-bin, the chairman of consumer goods giant Lotte Group, is being cleared of similar charges). Business groups have welcomed the decision, hoping executives will commit to creating jobs. But a progressive minor opposition party said the pardon suggests “judicial justice collapsed before money.”