Former South Korean presidentPark Geun-hye (Anadolu photo) ISTANBUL - South Korea on Friday pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving a 22-year jail term for corruption. The government said the move to release Park, who was impeached in 2017 and convicted of abuse of power, coercion and bribery a year later, will "help bolster national unity" ahead of next March's presidential election. Park became South Korea's first woman president in 2013 and the country's first democratically elected leader to be removed from office. She is among 3,094 prisoners scheduled to be freed on New Year's Eve, Yonhap News Agency reported. Given her support base in Daegu and the North Gyeongsang province, a stronghold of the main opposition People Power Party, her release is likely to have a "significant impact" on the presidential election, the report said. President Moon Jae-in's government has also announced it will exonerate Han Myeong-sook, South K