Former S. Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan dies unapologetic and unrepentant

Posted on : 2021-11-23 17:54 KST Modified on : 2021-12-05 23:22 KST
A dictator who seized power through a military coup and oversaw the ruthless massacre of civilian protestors in Gwangju, Chun Doo-hwan died on Tuesday, Nov. 23
Chun Doo-hwan steps out of his home in Seoul’s Yeonhui neighborhood to attend his appeal trial in Gwangju on Aug. 9, 2021. (Yonhap News)
Chun Doo-hwan steps out of his home in Seoul’s Yeonhui neighborhood to attend his appeal trial in Gwangju on Aug. 9, 2021. (Yonhap News)

Chun Doo-hwan, a figure responsible for orchestrating a military dictatorship and civilian massacre in the grim South Korean climate of the 1980s, died Tuesday.

Even in the face of historical scars left unhealed for decades, he showed no sign of apology or repentance to the very end.

KMA graduate wins Park Chung-hee’s trust, joins “Hanahoe” military group

A native of Yulgok, a township in Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang Province, Chun Doo-hwan graduated from Daegu Technical High School and entered the Korea Military Academy (KMA) in 1951. Graduating from the KMA in 1955, he began his military career as a platoon leader with the ROK Army’s 25th Infantry Division.

Selected in 1959 as an officer dispatched to be trained by US Special Forces, he was later assigned to the 1st Airborne Special Forces Brigade. This was also the period when the soldier’s political role first emerged.

In 1959, Chun married Lee Soon-ja, the daughter of Lee Gyu-dong — a fellow member of the KMA’s second graduating class alongside future President Park Chung-hee.

During the military coup of May 16, 1961, Chun was working as an ROTC instructor at Seoul National University. He convinced members of later KMA classes to march in the streets in support of the “military revolution.” Those actions won him Park’s trust, which led to him serving as a secretary with the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction.

Chun would go on to perform several roles as one of Park’s closest associates, including a stint as chief of human resources for the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA).

Becoming the first member of his KMA class to be promoted to colonel in 1969, he went to fight in the Vietnam War the following year. In 1974, he became the first member of the 11th KMA class to officially become a brigadier general; he would go on to assume key roles as assistant chief of operations for the Presidential Security Service and commander of the 1st Infantry Division. In 1979, he became commander of the Security Command for the South Korean armed forces.

He was a part of a club called Hanahoe, which was established in secret as a military group consisting mainly of alumni from the KMA’s 11th class, including Chun and Roh Tae-woo. Its influence grew as its members served as a kind of presidential guard to Park. It also played a pivotal role in allowing Chun to seize power amid the chaos after Park was assassinated on Oct. 26, 1979.

1979 coup, 1980 massacre, and election as South Korean President

In the wake of Park’s assassination, Chun conducted the investigation in his role as commander of the Defense Security Command and joint investigation headquarters chief for the martial law command. On Dec. 12, 1979, the members of Hanahoe — with Chun at the helm — staged a military insurrection, arresting then-martial law commander Jeong Seung-hwa and seizing control of the military.

On May 17, 1980, Chun and other Hanahoe figures expanded the emergency martial law decree nationwide — nominally a measure to “get the political situation under control.”

They imposed bans on political parties and political activities, shut down the National Assembly, and established the Special Committee for National Security Measures. A total of 2,699 students, politicians, and other opposition figures were jailed.

When the May 1980 Gwangju Uprising arose in reaction to this, Chun was responsible for its bloody suppression. According to figures counted in 2005 by the May 18 Bereaved Family Association, a total of 606 people were killed in the events of May 1980. The incident would result in Chun being forever labeled as the perpetrator of a massacre.

After Choi Kyu-hah stepped down as President under pressure from the “New Military” bloc, Chun was elected to the nation's 11th presidential term during a National Council for Unification meeting at Jangchung Gymnasium in August 1980.

After taking office, Chun ordered the dissolution of political parties. On Oct. 27, 1980, he proclaimed a new Constitution that included terms allowing Presidents to serve a single seven-year term.

Joining the Democratic Justice Party in 1981, he was elected to the 12th presidential term by indirect election according to the new Constitution.

Chun and his wife stand and applaud Democratic Justice Party members during a gathering on Jan. 15, 1986 held in Seoul’s Garak neighborhood, commemorating the party’s fifth anniversary of its founding, where 1,700 were in attendance, including Roh Tae-woo. (Yonhap News)
Chun and his wife stand and applaud Democratic Justice Party members during a gathering on Jan. 15, 1986 held in Seoul’s Garak neighborhood, commemorating the party’s fifth anniversary of its founding, where 1,700 were in attendance, including Roh Tae-woo. (Yonhap News)

The public’s hunger for democracy only intensified. As South Korea enjoyed what was described as the “biggest boom since the time of Dangun” amid an economic climate of low interest rates, low oil prices, and a cheap dollar, the desire for a new political system was increasingly given voice.

The 12th National Assembly elections in 1985 touched off demands for a Constitutional amendment to allow for direct presidential elections. The death of Park Jong-chul resulting from torture in January 1987 was a catalyst for these demands for democracy erupting like wildlife.

But in his “defense of the Constitution” speech on April 13 of the same year, Chun declared that the “gymnasium elections” would continue. That ended up backfiring, triggering a national outcry that would spell the beginning of the end for the Fifth Republic.

South Koreans held demonstrations nationwide to protest the measures. On June 29, then-Democratic Justice Party leader Roh Tae-woo — who had been named as a candidate for the next presidency — announced that the government would accede to demands and amend the Constitution to allow for direct elections.

Even after leaving office, Chun tried to continue wielding power from behind the scenes as Democratic Justice Party leader, with Roh as his successor.

But when Roh came to power, the opposition-dominated National Assembly erupted with calls for investigations of the Fifth Republic’s corruption and the events of May 1980. Even as a friend and former KMA classmate who had inherited the reins of power from Chun, Roh was forced to distance himself.

On Nov. 23, 1988, Chun delivered his “address to the South Korean people,” after which he and his wife Lee Soon-ja went to stay at a Buddhist temple on Mt. Seorak.

Retirement, arrest, and “net worth of 290,000 won”

After being elected in the wake of a three-party merger, then-President Kim Young-sam suddenly had Chun and Roh arrested midway through his term in 1995. The charges included insurrection leadership, participating in a conspiracy to commit insurrection, performing key insurrection duties, unlawful advance or retreat, commander’s breakaway from station of defense, homicide against a superior officer, attempted homicide against a superior officer, homicide against a guard, leadership of rebellion, participation in conspiracy to commit rebellion, performance of key duties in a rebellion, homicide with intent to commit rebellion, and bribery in violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes.

Defendants (from right to left) Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, and former KCIA Director Yoo Hak-sung stand, awaiting their sentence in relation to the Dec. 12, 1979 military coup and the massacre in Gwangju. (Yonhap News)
Defendants (from right to left) Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, and former KCIA Director Yoo Hak-sung stand, awaiting their sentence in relation to the Dec. 12, 1979 military coup and the massacre in Gwangju. (Yonhap News)

Amid all this, Chun gave a statement in the alleyway in front of his Yeonhui neighborhood home, saying, “Though I put forth my best effort for the sake of uncovering the truth of [the Dec. 12, 1979 coup and the events in Gwangju on May 18, 1980], the government has gone so far as to legislate a special act to reopen investigations — I have no reason to comply with that. In respect of the law, I will only comply with proceedings of the Ministry of Justice.” After spending five minutes paying respects at Seoul National Ceremony, he departed for his hometown of Hapcheon County.

Standing in an alleyway in front of his Yeonhui neighborhood home, Chun addresses the nation on Dec. 2, 1995, reading a two-page statement on his refusal to comply with a subpoena by prosecutors. After finishing his statement, Chun went to his hometown of Hapcheon County where he held out until being taken into custody. (Yonhap News)
Standing in an alleyway in front of his Yeonhui neighborhood home, Chun addresses the nation on Dec. 2, 1995, reading a two-page statement on his refusal to comply with a subpoena by prosecutors. After finishing his statement, Chun went to his hometown of Hapcheon County where he held out until being taken into custody. (Yonhap News)

At the initial trial, Chun was sentenced to death and to pay restitution on charges of leading an insurrection and corruption. In the second trial, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. Prosecutors appealed to a higher court, saying that the sentence was too lenient, but in April 1997 South Korea’s Supreme Court reaffirmed the Seoul High Court’s sentence of life in prison and a sum of 220 billion won — US$190 million — to be returned to the state.

On the campaign trail for the 1997 presidential election, candidates Kim Dae-jung, Lee Hoi-chang and Lee In-je all ran on platforms of pardoning Chun, and only two days after the election, on Dec. 20, 1997, then President Kim Young-sam pardoned him. He was still required to repay the sum decided by the Supreme Court.

However, as of 2021 he had yet to repay 97 billion won — US$81 million — with the timeframe for payment ending some seven years ago, in October 2013.

Chun stirred the public’s rage once again when he claimed his total assets to be worth 291,000 won — roughly US$250. At an April 28, 2003, hearing at the Seoul Western District Court related to clarifying assets for the sake of repaying money to the state, Chun stated, “It was wrong of me to take bribes from corporations, but I used all of that money on managing the Democratic Justice Party and other political activities, leaving nothing left.”

At the trial, he submitted a paper with the above balance written on it. As for a list of assets, he enumerated his Jindo dogs, a piano, paintings, a folding screen, a living room suite, a rug, an air conditioner, a television set, a refrigerator, a clock, ceramics, a computer, and a table set, among others. Even following his release from prison, he continued to live an extravagant lifestyle in his Yeonhui neighborhood home under the protection of a security detail, often heading to the greens for a round of golf.

Back at the courthouse after 23 years for defamation

Chun did not shy away from controversy, even in his later years.

In 2017, he released a three-volume memoir. Courts prohibited the sale of the first volume, which contained distortions of the history of the Gwangju Uprising, while permitting the sale of the second and third volumes, which covered his time as president and personal history, respectively. The memoir’s publisher later released a revised edition that had simply deleted the portions to which the court had objected.

In this memoir, Chun claimed that the late Rev. Cho Pius’ account of Chun’s troops shooting at Gwangju protesters from helicopters was fabricated, and ridiculed the priest in terms such as “Satan in disguise” and “a shameless liar.” The late priest’s family sued Chun Doo-hwan for defamation of the dead.

While at a golf course in Gangwon Province on Nov. 7, Chun looks at Lim Han-sol, deputy leader of the Justice Party. (provided by Lim Han-sol)
While at a golf course in Gangwon Province on Nov. 7, Chun looks at Lim Han-sol, deputy leader of the Justice Party. (provided by Lim Han-sol)

Accompanied by police escorts, Chun arrived at court on March 11, 2019 — his first time as a defendant in 23 years. He denied knowledge of troops shooting from helicopters, saying, “As far as I know, there is no truth to the [idea that troops] were shooting from helicopters at the time.” His duplicity earned him a fair share of criticism.

In the first trial, he was sentenced to eight months with a stay of execution of two years. However, both prosecutors and Chun himself appealed the decision — a process that was still underway at the time of his death. In August of this year, he was diagnosed with a cancer of the blood known as multiple myeloma, appearing in public as a gaunt and hollow figure.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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