President Park Geun-hye could hold a Cabinet meeting next week to finalize details of special pardons, the presidential spokesman said Thursday.

Min Kyung-wook said the meeting could be held next Thursday, though he declined to confirm whether Park will grant special pardons to convicted business tycoons.

Local media reported Thursday that those who will receive pardons will include SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon.

Park has instructed officials to review the scope and candidates for the planned pardons to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15, is one of the major holidays in both South and North Korea.

Last year, South Korea's top court upheld a four-year jail sentence against Chey for embezzling 46.5 billion won ($43.6 million) from two SK Group affiliates and funneling the funds into personal investments in stock futures and options in 2008.

In February, an appeals court gave Kim a three-year sentence for illegally using company money to pay back debts of firms he ran under borrowed names. The sentence was suspended for five years, saving him from serving a jail term. (Yonhap)