Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters.) – Chun Doohwan was a former South Korean President who ruled the country with iron will after a military coup in 1979. This triggered massive protests and riots.

Multiple myeloma was a form of blood cancer that Chun suffered from and had been in remission for some time. His health had also declined recently. Yonhap reported that Chun died at home in Seoul early on a morning.

Chun was an ex-military commander and presided over the massacre by Gwangju army soldiers of protestors in 1980. A crime for which he later received a commuted death sentence.

He died just a month after Roh Taewoo, a former president who was also his coup comrade, had passed away at the age of 88. Roh played an important but controversial part in the country’s turbulent transition to democracy.

In the middle of the 1990s Chun was an aloof man.

Chun said to the court that he was certain that he would follow the same steps if the situation presented itself.

Chun was born in Yulgok-myeon on March 6, 1931. This is a small farming community in southeast Korea’s county of Hapcheon.

Straight out of high school, Chun joined the military. In 1979, he was made a commanding officer. Chun, who was in charge of investigating the assassination President Park Chunghee that same year, enlisted key military allies. He also took control of South Korea’s intelligence agencies and led a Dec. 12 coup.

It was surprising to me that Chun gained control of these most powerful organizations under Park Chung-hee’s presidency and used the situation so skillfully. “In an instant he seemed like he had grown into a huge,” Park Junkwang, Chun’s deputy during the coup told Cho Gabje.

The eight year rule of Chun in the president’s Blue House was marked by political repression and brutality. However, it was also marked by increasing economic prosperity.

Chun was forced to resign from his office in the midst of a student-led democracy movement that demanded a direct electoral system.

He was also charged with Mutiny and Treason in 1995. After refusing appearance at the prosecution’s office, he fled to his hometown and was then arrested.

He and his coup conspirator, as well as the succeeding President Roh Tse-Woo, were found guilty in what was called the “trial-of-the-century”. Judges ruled that Chun rose to power “through illegal means, which caused enormous harm on the people.”

Survivors and former military officers testified that thousands of students died at Gwangju.

While Chun was sent to death, Roh received a long sentence in prison. This was however commuted by Seoul High Court to recognize Chun’s involvement in rapid Asian economic development and peaceful transfer of power to Roh in 1988.

President Kim Youngsam released both of them in 1997 from jail, calling it an effort to encourage “national unity.”

Chun returned to the spotlight several times. After claiming total assets worth 291,000 won ($245) cash, two dogs and a few home appliances as well as 220.5 million won in fines in 2003, Chun created a stir in the nation. Later, his four children and others were found to have large amounts of land in Seoul as well as luxurious homes in the United States.

Chun’s family had vowed in 2013 to pay the largest portion of his debt. However, as of December 2020 his fines unpaid totalled around 100 billion won.

Chun was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to an 8-month suspension for defaming a Catholic priest and a late democracy activist. Chun will be facing a trial in the next week after his lawyers appealed.

($1 = 1,188.3000 won)