Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong /Yonhap

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was given a presidential pardon on Friday, in a move widely expected to help him consolidate his leadership and speed up business decision-making in the country's biggest conglomerate.

The decision comes as the tech giant has been faced with intensifying global competition from smaller rivals, including those in China, and growing economic uncertainty from global inflation, monetary tightening and worries over an economic slowdown.

Earlier in the day, President Yoon Suk-yeol approved his first special pardons for Lee, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and 1,691 others on the occasion of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day anniversary. Yoon said the pardon was expected to help the country "overcome the economic crisis."

Samsung heir Lee was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye and released on parole in August last year. His prison term officially ended July 29, but he still needs a pardon to have all his rights reinstated.

"I am really thankful that I am given another chance to start anew," Lee said in a statement right after the pardon decision was announced.

"I will work harder to fulfill my responsibility as a businessman and help the economy by creating more jobs for young people," he added.

Lee's supporters had demanded the government pardon him so that he could assume his role freely at Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the group and the world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker.

Lee's "absence," they argued, could hurt the performance of the company, the largest contributor to Asia's fourth-largest economy, at a time when global rivalry over chip manufacturing has intensified and chip shortages have hobbled the production of cars and consumer electronics.