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| Lee Soon-ja, the wife of late former President Chun Doo-hwan, attends his funeral service at the Severance Hospital in Seoul, Nov. 25. Yonhap |
The wife of the late former President Chun Doo-hwan, widely criticized for the bloody crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, issued an apology Saturday for the "pains and scars" inflicted during his presidency.
Lee Soon-ja made the apology in the first such move by Chun's family, as the bereaved family was preparing to carry his coffin out of a hospital and move it to a burial site. Chun died Tuesday at age 90 from chronic ailments.
"On behalf of my husband, I would like to deeply apologize, especially to those who suffered pains and scars during his time in office," Lee said at Yonsei University Severance Hospital in central Seoul.
Lee also recalled that Chun used to say, "All things were due to my fault and my lack of virtue."
Chun told his family to hold a small funeral service, to never erect a tomb for him, and to cremate him and spread his ashes in areas overlooking North Korea, Lee said.
Chun, an ex-Army general, served as president from 1980-1988 after seizing power through a military coup in 1979. (Yonhap)
