President Lee Myung-bak will issue a special pardon as early as Tuesday freeing around 50 people convicted of various offenses, Cheong Wa Dae said.

Convicts on the list include Choi See-joong, a close confidant of Lee's and former head of the Korea Communications Commission, who was convicted of corruption.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said it has not been decided whether Choi's sentence will be commuted or shortened.

But Lee's brother Sang-deuk, who was also convicted of taking bribes, is apparently not on the list since he has not been sentenced yet.

A spokesman for Lee's successor, Park Geun-hye, on Saturday said the president-elect is against this last-ditch amnesty. But a high-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official said the pardon is entirely within the authority of the incumbent president.