6 in 10 people oppose burial of ex-president at national cemetery

Former President Chun Doo-hwan's house / Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Six out of 10 South Koreans disagree with burying former President Chun Doo-hwan at the National Cemetery after his death, a poll showed Monday. Realmeter's survey on 503 adults nationwide on Jan. 4 found that 61.5 percent said the related law should be revised to prevent Chun from being honored at the National Cemetery.

A total of 26.8 percent, meanwhile, said Chun should be allowed to be buried at the National Cemetery as he was pardoned. The remaining 11.7 percent said they have no idea about the issue or declined to answer..

Based on law, people who served as President, National Assembly Speaker, Chief Justice, President of the Constitutional Court of Korea as well as political and military leaders and citizens who sacrificed themselves to help others can be buried at the country's cemetery.

The law on former Presidents stipulates that those who received heavier sentences than an imprisonment is deprived of privileges as a former president. However, it is not applied to the burial.

The 87-year-old Chun, who served as president from 1980 to 1988, however, is legally eligible for burial at the National Cemetery as he was released from prison on a presidential pardon.

Chun received a death sentence in 1996 for his part in the military coup, the Gwangju killing, which resulted in an untold number of civilian deaths, and bribery. But he was pardoned one year later by then President Kim Young-sam.

The issue regarding Chun has emerged after his wife Lee Soon-ja called her husband the “father of democracy” during an interview with a right-wing online publication. Political parties, except the main opposition Liberty Korea Party went all-out to criticize the remark.

Chun, also, is facing a legal dispute since May last year for allegedly defaming victims of his 1980 crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in his memoir and refusing to appear in court, citing health reasons.