Chun Doo-hwan

Chun Doo-hwan (Korean: 전두환; pronounced [tɕʌn du.βwɐn]; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. A member of the Democratic Justice Party, he ruled the country as a military dictator following a successful coup in December 1979. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Fifth Republic of Korea.

Born in Hapcheon County, Korea, Empire of Japan, Chun graduated from Korea Military Academy in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in science. He usurped power after the 1979 assassination of president Park Chung Hee, who was himself a military dictator who had ruled since 1961. Chun orchestrated the 12 December 1979 military coup, then cemented his military rule in the 17 May 1980 military coup in which he declared martial law and later set up a concentration camp for "purificatory education". He established the Fifth Republic of Korea on 3 March 1981. He governed under a constitution somewhat less authoritarian than Park's Fourth Republic, but still held very broad executive power, and used extreme violence to maintain it. During his tenure, South Korea's economy grew at its highest rate ever, achieving the country's first trade surplus in 1986. After the June Struggle democratization movement of 1987, Chun conceded to allowing the December 1987 presidential election to be free and open. It was won by his close friend and ally Roh Tae-woo, who continued many of Chun's policies during his own rule into the 1990s.