Former S.Korean president Chun Doo-hwan dies at 90

Former South Korean President, Chun Doo-hwan, an army major general who seized control in 1979 coup and whose name will forever be associated with a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators died on Tuesday at the age of 90, his former press aide said.

According to the former press secretary, Min Chung-ki, “Chun died in his house after suffering from chronic disease.

“His body will be moved to a hospital for a funeral later in the day.”

Chun presided over the 1980 Gwangju army massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, a crime for which he was later convicted and received a commuted death sentence.

Chun was born on March 6, 1931, in Yulgok-myeon, a poor farming town in the southeastern county of Hapcheon, when Korea was a Japanese colony.
He joined the military after school, working his way up the ranks until he was made a commander in 1979.

Taking charge of the investigation into the assassination of President Park Chung-hee that year, Chun courted key military allies and gained control of South Korea’s intelligence agencies to lead a December 12 coup.

In 1995, he was charged with mutiny and treason, and was arrested after refusing to appear at the prosecutors’ office and fleeing to his hometown.

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Kamila/Xinhua