Former defense minister convicted over Gwangju crackdown dies at 94
Chung Ho-yong / Korea Times file
Chung Ho-yong, a former defense minister who was convicted for his role in the military crackdown on the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, died Sunday. He was 94.
Chung was the last surviving member of the five figures considered the core of Korea's "new military group," which seized power following the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979.
His funeral altar has been set up at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.
Born in Daegu in 1932, Chung graduated as a member of the 11th class of the Korea Military Academy, alongside former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo.
Chung, Chun and Roh, along with former Army Chief of Staff and martial law commander Lee Hee-sung and former Army Vice Chief of Staff Hwang Young-si, were regarded as the five central figures of the group.
Chung also took part in the Dec. 12, 1979, military coup led by Chun and went on to hold powerful positions as Army chief of staff and defense minister during Chun's Fifth Republic. He later served as a lawmaker.
His fortunes changed after the inauguration of the Kim Young-sam administration, as Korea began a sweeping reassessment of the Dec. 12 coup and the 1980 crackdown in Gwangju.
Chung, who was commander of the Army Special Warfare Command at the time of the Gwangju Uprising, was charged over his involvement in the military operation to suppress the pro-democracy movement. In 1997, the Supreme Court finalized a guilty verdict against him and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
Chung did not acknowledge responsibility or apologize for his actions during his lifetime.
When the May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission sought to question him about the Gwangju crackdown, he declined an in-person interview and instead submitted a written statement maintaining that he was not involved.
With Chung's death, the opportunity to directly seek answers and an apology from one of the key surviving members of the new military group over what happened during the May 18 crackdown has disappeared.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.