North Korean Media's First Critical Report on Jeon Du-hwan's Death

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea's propaganda media voiced criticism of former President Jeon Du-hwan, who died on the 23rd.

North Korea's external weekly magazine Tongil Sinbo reported on the 27th in a commentary titled "A heinous warmonger who will not escape curses even in hell," stating, "He was a heinous murderer who seized power through the 12.12 military coup in South Korea and drowned the entire city of Gwangju in a sea of blood," announcing the news of former President Jeon's death.

This is the first report by North Korean media on his death. Former President Jeon died on the 23rd.

Tongil Sinbo criticized, "Even on the path to the afterlife, he was a villain cursed and condemned by the southern people's sentiment, a masked murderer, a dictator, and shameless," adding, "Having stained his hands with the blood of the people and seized power, brutally strangling democracy with unforgivable and horrifying crimes, he did not express any apology to the South Korean people until the day he went to the afterlife."

Furthermore, regarding the will left by former President Jeon, it criticized, "It is a rant about wanting to see the day of absorption unification even after going to the afterlife. How much of an anti-unification element obsessed with fratricidal confrontation he was."

Former President Jeon left a de facto will in his memoir published in 2017, stating, "The day when the Kim Il-sung regime collapses and the homeland is unified with great emotion. I feel that day is near," and "If my life ends before that, I want to remain as a skeleton on some hill in the front line where the northern land is visible and surely witness the day of unification." This expressed hope for absorption unification following the collapse of North Korea's regime.