Former Prime Minister Han (Yonhap)
Senior prosecutors met Friday to reexamine allegations of false testimony in a bribery case involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.
Han, who served as prime minister from 2006-2007, was imprisoned from 2015-2017 after being convicted of accepting about 900 million won ($795,000) in illegal political funds from a late businessman while in office.
As South Korea's first female prime minister, she is a representative figure of the country's contemporary liberal bloc. Supporters of the ruling Democratic Party regard Han as having suffered suppression due to political purposes.
Last year, allegations surfaced that prosecutors had forced the late businessman's fellow inmates to give false testimony against Han during her trial in 2011 to win her conviction. Earlier this month, the Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) dismissed the perjury charges, but Justice Minister Park Beom-kye ordered the SPO this week to see if there was any "unreasonable decision making" in the process.
The statute of limitations for the case expires Monday.
The senior prosecutors' meeting began at 10 a.m. at the SPO headquarters. The results of the closed-door meeting will not be announced. If the prosecutors are unable to reach a conclusion, acting Prosecutor General Cho Nam-kwan will have the final say on whether to press any charges.
Han has long claimed innocence, arguing that she never accepted the money and that the charges against her were fabricated as part of political revenge by a conservative government against the former liberal administration of late President Roh Moo-hyun. (Yonhap)