Chun Doo-hwan

Chun Doo-hwan ( or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988.

Chun was born on 18 January 1931 in Yul-Gok myeon, a poor farming town in Hapcheon County, Keishōnan-dō (South Gyeongsang Province), Korea, Empire of Japan.

Chun Doo-hwan's family is from the Wonsan Jeon Clan.

Around 1936, Chun's family moved to Daegu, where he began attending Horan Elementary School.

Chun's father had run-ins with the kempeitai in the past; in the winter of 1939 he murdered a police captain.

Their family immediately fled to Jilin, Manchukuo, where they stayed in hiding for two years before returning.

When Chun finally started attending elementary school again, he was two years behind his original classmates.

In 1947, Chun began attending Daegu Vocational Middle School, located nearly 25 km from his home.

Chun moved on to Daegu Vocational High School.

After graduating from high school in 1951, Chun gained entry into the Korea Military Academy (KMA).

While there, he made several key friends among the students who would later play instrumental roles in helping Chun seize control of the country.

He graduated in February 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the 11th class of the KMA.

He later trained in the United States, specializing in guerilla tactics and psychological warfare, and married Lee Soon-ja, the daughter of the KMA's commandant at the time of his attendance, in 1958.

Chun, then a captain, led a demonstration at the KMA to show support for the May 16 coup in 1961 led by Park Chung Hee.

Chun was subsequently made secretary to the commander of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, placing him directly under Park.

Park was himself a military dictator who had ruled since 1962.

Chun was quickly promoted to major in 1962, while continuing to make powerful friends and acquaintances.

As a major, Chun was the deputy chief of operations for the Special Warfare Command's battle headquarters, and later worked for the Supreme Council for Reconstruction again as the Chief Civil Affairs Officer.

In 1963, Chun was given a position in the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) as Personnel Director.

By 1969, he was senior advisor to the Army Chief of Staff.

In 1970, holding the rank of colonel, Chun became the commander of the 29th Regiment, South Korean 9th Infantry Division, and participated in the Vietnam War.

Upon returning to Korea in 1971, he was given command of the 1st Special Forces Brigade (Airborne) and later promoted to brigadier general.

In 1976 he worked as the deputy chief of the Presidential Security Service and was promoted to the rank of major general during his time there.

In 1978 he became the commanding officer of the 1st Infantry Division.

Chun usurped power after the 1979 assassination of president Park Chung Hee.

Chun orchestrated the 12 December 1979 military coup, then cemented his military dictatorship in the 17 May 1980 military coup in which he declared martial law and later set up a concentration camp for "purificatory education".

He established the Fifth Republic of Korea on 3 March 1981.

He governed under a constitution somewhat less authoritarian than Park's Fourth Republic, but still held very broad executive power.

During his tenure, South Korea's economy would grow at its highest rate ever achieving South Korea's first trade surplus in 1986.

After the June Struggle democratization movement of 1987, Chun conceded to allowing the December 1987 presidential election to be free and open.

It was won by his close friend and ally Roh Tae-woo, who would continue many of Chun's policies during his own rule into the 1990s.

In 1996, Chun was sentenced to death for his role in the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising which led to the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands, of citizens.

Chun was pardoned the following year, along with Roh Tae-woo who had been sentenced to 17 years, by President Kim Young-sam, on the advice of the incoming President-elect Kim Dae-jung whom Chun's administration had sentenced to death some 20 years earlier.

Chun and Roh were fined $203 million and $248 million respectively, amounts that were embezzled through corruption during their regimes, which were mostly never paid.

In his final years, Chun was criticized for his unapologetic stance and the lack of remorse for his actions as a dictator and his wider regime.

Chun died on 23 November 2021 at the age of 90 after a relapse of myeloma.

His 14th generation ancestor, Jeon Je was a military officer who was executed for violating the orders of Gwon Yul during the Imjin War.

Chun Doo-hwan was the fourth son out of ten children to Chun Sang-woo and Kim Jeong-mun.

Chun's oldest two brothers, Yeol-hwan and Kyuu-gon, died in an accident when he was an infant.

Chun grew up knowing his remaining older brother Ki-hwan and his younger brother Kyeong-hwan.