Former President No Tae-woo Passes Away at 89... Key Figure in the 12·12 Coup (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former President Roh Tae-woo, who served as the 13th President of the Republic of Korea, passed away on the 26th due to an illness. He was 89 years old.

Former President Roh, who had been living with a chronic illness for a long time, was recently admitted to Seoul National University Hospital due to a worsening condition and received intensive care from medical staff but did not recover.

He underwent prostate cancer surgery in 2002 and was repeatedly admitted and discharged from the hospital. Since then, he had been recuperating at his home in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul, battling rare diseases including cerebellar atrophy and asthma along with his chronic illness.

Former President Roh was born on December 4, 1932, as the eldest son to Roh Byung-soo, who served as a clerk at the Gongsan-myeon office in Dalseong-gun, Gyeongbuk (now Sinyong-dong, Dong-gu, Daegu Metropolitan City), near Palgongsan, and his mother Kim Tae-hyang.

After graduating from Gyeongbuk High School, he entered the Korea Military Academy as part of the 11th class in 1955. On December 12, 1979, he led a military coup as a core member of the new military group 'Hanahoe,' centered around former President Chun Doo-hwan, who was his classmate from the 11th class of the Military Academy.

He then rose to become the second-in-command of the new military group, serving as the 8th Capital Security Command Commander and the Commander of the Defense Security Command, retiring as an Army General. In 1981, he entered politics as the Minister of Political Affairs.

He later served as the chief representative of the South-North High-Level Talks, the first Minister of Sports, the 41st Minister of the Interior, the Chairman of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee, and the 28th President of the Korean Sports Council. Shedding his military image, he emerged as the successor to former President Chun Doo-hwan at the end of the Fifth Republic and was nominated as the presidential candidate at the 1987 Democratic Justice Party convention.

After his retirement, he was imprisoned along with former President Chun for charges including leading the December 12 coup, the violent suppression of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, and the creation of slush funds amounting to hundreds of billions of won. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined 260 billion won by the court. He was released in December 1997 through a special pardon.

He is survived by his wife Kim Ok-sook, daughter So-young, and son Jae-heon. So-young's husband is Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, who is currently in the process of divorce with her. The funeral will be held at the Seoul National University Hospital funeral hall.