Chan Zhouhan: South Korean dictator known as "Guangzhou butcher" dies
Chan Zhouhan came to power in a 1979 military coup when President Park Chang-hee was assassinated. He ruled with an iron fist until 1988, brutally crushing any opposition.
Former dictator Chan Zhouhan, who seized power in South Korea with an iron fist, silencing any opposition, died Tuesday at the age of 90.
The retired general died at his home in Seoul, the South Korean national news agency Yonhap reported.
Chan Zhouhan's military regime oversaw a period of strong economic growth in South Korea. He also managed to secure the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
He was the first South Korean leader to hand over power peacefully.
Chan came to power in a 1979 military coup that ousted President Park Geun-hye.
He ruled with an iron fist from 1980 to 1988, brutally crushing any opposition. To this day, it remains one of the most hated forms of military dictatorship in South Korea.
The former dictator was also known as "the butcher of Guangzhou" because he ordered the army to quell in blood the uprising against the junta in this city in the southwestern part of the country.
The official toll of the victims - dead and "missing" - put the figure at about 200, but anti-dictatorship activists say it was a multiple. It is believed that thousands of people lost their lives, mostly students.
In 1996, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death, in part for the events in Guangzhou. But the death penalty was commuted to appeal and he was released on a presidential pardon.
Chun remained unrepentant for the massacre. "I am sure I would have done the same if the same situation had arisen," he testified in court during the "trial of the century," as it has become known.
In 2020, Chun was sentenced to eight months in prison with defamation for defaming a late democracy activist, a Catholic priest, in his memoirs, a book released in 2017. Prosecutors appealed next week.
