Chun Doo-hwan

Chun Doo-hwan (Korean pronunciation: [tɕʌnduhwan] born 18 January 1931) is a former South Korean army general who served as the leader of South Korea from 1979 to 1988, ruling as an unelected leader from December 1979 to September 1980, and the fifth President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Chun was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in the Gwangju Massacre, but later pardoned by President Kim Young-sam with the advice of then President-elect Kim Dae-jung, who Chun's administration had sentenced to death some 20 years earlier.

Early life and education

Chun was born on 18 January 1931 in Yulgok-myeon, a poor farming town in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang province, during the Imperial Japanese rule of Korea. Chun Doo-hwan was the fourth son out of ten children to Chun Sang-woo and Kim Jeong-mun. Chun's oldest two brothers, Yeol-hwan and Kyuu-gon, died in an accident when he was an infant. Chun grew up knowing his remaining older brother Ki-hwan and his younger brother Kyeong-hwan.