GWANGJU, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — A grandson of late former President Chun Doo-hwan on Friday apologized for the 1980 bloody crackdown that his grandfather carried out to quell a pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju. “My grandfather, Chun Doo-hwan, is a sinner who committed a huge crime,” Chun Woo-won told reporters following [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Late former President Chun Doo-hwan described a military document recommending a crackdown on the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju as a “good idea,” a fact-finding panel said Monday. Marking the second anniversary of its launch, the May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission released interim results [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan, an ex-Army general who seized power in a military coup in 1979, left a deep scar in South Korea’s modern history that has still not healed: the bloody crackdown on a pro-democracy civil uprising. Chun, who died Tuesday at the age of 90, never [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Former President Chun Doo-hwan, a general-turned strongman widely criticized for seizing power through a 1979 military coup and ruthlessly quelling a pro-democracy civil uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju the following year, died Tuesday at the age of 90. Chun died at his home in western Seoul around [...]
GWANGJU, Nov. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — A court on Monday found former President Chun Doo-hwan guilty of defaming a late activist who testified to having witnessed Chun’s troops shooting from helicopters on pro-democracy demonstrators in Gwangju. The Gwangju District Court endorsed the claims of late priest Cho Pius that there were shootings at civilians from [...]
CHEONGJU, June 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Councilors in the central province of North Chungcheong are pushing for legislation to support a plan to remove the statues of two former disgraced presidents from a public park. The provincial government decided on May 14 to remove all monuments of former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo from [...]
SEOUL, Jun, 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Family members of Korean Air Flight 858 victims have demanded that the government investigate the truth behind the Korean Air aircraft explosion in 1987, claiming that the “main culprit for the incident is ex-President Chun Doo-hwan, not Kim Hyon-hui.” Kim Hyon-hui was found to be the one responsible for [...]
SEOUL, May 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Friday that those distorting what happened during the bloody crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising will face the “judgment of truth,” apparently referring to former President Chun Doo-hwan. During a ceremony to commemorate the May 18 democracy movement in the southwestern city of Gwangju, [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The National Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at establishing an independent panel for an objective probe into a bloody crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy movement. The bill calls for verifying the truth behind the brutal use of force by the military-backed Chun Doo-hwan government during the uprising [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s military launched helicopter gunship attacks on civilians protesting against the junta of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, a crime against humanity tantamount to a massacre, a government committee said Wednesday. During the Gwangju uprising, known as the Gwangju Democratization Movement, the Army fired shots toward citizens from 500MD [...]