Chun Doo-hwan sets off to attend libel trial in Gwangju over false accounts in his memoir
- 5 years ago
One of South Korea's former presidents, Chun Doo-hwan,... well known for his deadly military crackdown on the 1980 pro-democracy movement... is on his way to a hear a libel case against him in the country's southwestern city of Gwangju today.
Cha Sang-mi starts us off.
Chun Doo-hwan left his house in Seoul's Yeonhui-dong district at around 8:30 AM to attend the libel case hearing in Gwangju.
He was accompanied by two teams of detectives, following the car which carried his wife Rhee Soon-ja, Chun and his lawyer.
Pro-Chun protests were taking place from early in the morning... some 200 people holding signs saying "no trial for President Chun Doo-hwan" and shouting it is a "violation of human rights" to open a trial about something that happened 40 years ago.
Chun's lawyer said last week that the ex-president would attend Monday's hearing and insisted that he hasn't dodged the hearing so far, but couldn't attend because of health issues.
This comes after the Gwangju District Court issued an arrest warrant for Chun, when he refused to show up at court for a second time in January, citing health reasons.
He refused to attend for the first time in August of last year, citing issues caused by Alzheimer's Disease.
"Chun Doo-hwan served as president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. He took power in a military coup in May 1980, where he ordered troops to fire on student protesters in Gwangju, who were calling for him to step down -- killing around 200."
Chun was sentenced to death in 1996, but was pardoned and released from custody the following year by the Kim Young-sam administration.
He was indicted without detention in May 2018 on charges that his memoirs, published in 2017, disgraced the late activist priest Cho Chul-hyun.
Cho insisted he witnessed the military firing on citizens during the bloody crackdown of Gwangju.
Chun denied the priest's claim in his memoirs, calling Cho "Satan wearing a mask" and a "liar."
Later, a relative of priest Cho filed the libel suit against him.
If convicted, Chun could face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to five-thousand U.S. dollars.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
Cha Sang-mi starts us off.
Chun Doo-hwan left his house in Seoul's Yeonhui-dong district at around 8:30 AM to attend the libel case hearing in Gwangju.
He was accompanied by two teams of detectives, following the car which carried his wife Rhee Soon-ja, Chun and his lawyer.
Pro-Chun protests were taking place from early in the morning... some 200 people holding signs saying "no trial for President Chun Doo-hwan" and shouting it is a "violation of human rights" to open a trial about something that happened 40 years ago.
Chun's lawyer said last week that the ex-president would attend Monday's hearing and insisted that he hasn't dodged the hearing so far, but couldn't attend because of health issues.
This comes after the Gwangju District Court issued an arrest warrant for Chun, when he refused to show up at court for a second time in January, citing health reasons.
He refused to attend for the first time in August of last year, citing issues caused by Alzheimer's Disease.
"Chun Doo-hwan served as president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. He took power in a military coup in May 1980, where he ordered troops to fire on student protesters in Gwangju, who were calling for him to step down -- killing around 200."
Chun was sentenced to death in 1996, but was pardoned and released from custody the following year by the Kim Young-sam administration.
He was indicted without detention in May 2018 on charges that his memoirs, published in 2017, disgraced the late activist priest Cho Chul-hyun.
Cho insisted he witnessed the military firing on citizens during the bloody crackdown of Gwangju.
Chun denied the priest's claim in his memoirs, calling Cho "Satan wearing a mask" and a "liar."
Later, a relative of priest Cho filed the libel suit against him.
If convicted, Chun could face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to five-thousand U.S. dollars.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.