General Roh Tae-woo, former president of South Korea who played a decisive role in the bloody repression of the popular uprising in Gwangju, died at the age of 88, this Tuesday (26), of natural causes.
The uprising ended in the death of hundreds of lives.
Removed from public life for about 20 years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Roh Tae-Woo was admitted to Seoul National University Hospital, Yonhap news agency reported.
Roh Tae-woo was elected president from 1988 to 1993, succeeding his old friend and dictator Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a military coup with Roh in 1979.
Roh’s victory in the 1987 elections, due to divided opposition, dashed the hopes of many liberal and democracy activists, who saw his inauguration as little more than an extension of the existing regime.
During his tenure, Roh presided over the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988 and established diplomatic ties with the communist bloc, long aligned with Pyongyang.
He was replaced by former Democratic activist Kim Young-sam, who was determined to bring him and Chun to justice.
On May 18, 1980, pro-democracy protesters took to the streets of Gwangju to protest the martial law proclaimed by dictator Chun Doo-Hwan.
Hundreds of people died in the army’s violent crackdown, an event known as the Gwangjiu massacre.
In the end, the two former presidents were convicted of treason in 1996.
At first, Roh was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison, while Chun was sentenced to death. Both received presidential pardons, however, and were released the following year.
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