Obama to host South Korea president October 16

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will travel to Washington for an October 16 summit meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss issues including North Korea’s nuclear program, South Korea said on Thursday.

The heavy-handed conduct of South Korea’s rich and powerful made headlines worldwide with last December’s “nut rage” case, after the daughter of an airline chairman took offence at the way she had been served macadamia nuts.

Chey was serving a 4-year prison term that began in January 2013 after being found guilty of embezzling company funds to trade financial products.

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won was among 6,500 pardons announced by Park to mark the 70th anniversary on Saturday of the end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea.

The visit had been scheduled for June 14-18, but was cancelled when Park’s administration was accused of an inadequate response to the deadly crisis.

“I decided to grant special pardons in order to help forge national reconciliation and revitalize the economy, as well as boost people’s spirits”, Park was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap. The heads of the Hyundai and Hanwha chaebol have similarly been charged before receiving suspended sentences or presidential pardons.

In 2003, he was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a US$1.3 billion (RM5.197 billion) accounting fraud but was released after just seven months and, in 2008, was granted a full presidential pardon, wiping his record clean.

But analysts say that agenda has been derailed by a sluggish economy and the reliance of her Saenuri party on support from conservative high earners.

There is growing discontent in South Korea about this sort of treatment.