[Jeon Du-hwan Death] North Korea Shows No Official Response Including Condolences Amid Negative Evaluations

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea has shown no particular reaction to the news of former President Jeon Du-hwan's death. Previously, when former President Roh Tae-woo passed away at the end of October, North Korea also did not issue any official statement of condolence.

North Korea has selectively expressed condolences on the deaths of South Korean leaders. The fact that North Korea does not express condolences for former President Jeon appears to stem from their longstanding negative evaluation of him.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Jeon, who seized power through the December 12, 1979 coup and was one of those responsible for violently suppressing the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980, has been criticized alongside former President Roh Tae-woo for years.

Until recently, North Korean propaganda media described them very critically, such as “Roh Tae-woo, accomplice in the Gwangju massacre” (June 10, 2021, Uri Minjokkkiri), “a brutal military fascist who went berserk with blood to maintain the dictatorship” (April 20, 2021, Ryomyong), and “Jeon Du-hwan and Roh Tae-woo’s military gangster group who seized power through the December 12 military coup” (June 2, 2020, Tongil Sinbo).

North Korea also did not issue a statement when former President Kim Young-sam passed away in November 2015.

During Kim Young-sam’s term from 1993 to 1994, which included the first North Korean nuclear crisis, he maintained a largely confrontational relationship with North Korea.

Moreover, North Korea seems to have not forgotten that when Chairman Kim Il-sung died on July 8, 1994, it prohibited South Korean officials from visiting North Korea for condolences and banned memorial events.

However, North Korea has expressed condolences at the funerals of major South Korean figures who contributed to improving inter-Korean relations or were friendly toward the North.

Two days after former President Roh Moo-hyun’s death on May 25, 2009, the Korean Central News Agency released a condolence message in the name of National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il, and when former President Kim Dae-jung passed away in August 2009, Kim Jong-il sent a delegation to pay respects.

Even after the breakdown of the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, which cooled inter-Korean relations, in June 2019, when Kim Dae-jung’s wife Lee Hee-ho passed away, Kim Yo-jong, First Deputy Director of the Workers’ Party, personally brought a condolence message and wreath.

In October of the same year, for the funeral of President Moon Jae-in’s mother Kang Han-ok, North Korean Workers’ Party General Secretary Kim Jong-un sent a personal letter of condolence.