Former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo has died in Seoul. He died in an intensive care unit at the university hospital in the capital, after decades of battling health problems.
Roh led South Korea from an authoritarian military-ruled country to a democracy, but ended his long career in prison for violently crushing an insurgency, fraud and self-enrichment.
A veteran of the Korean War (1950-1953), he began a career in South Korean politics. He first helped an army comrade to power with a military coup in 1979. At least 191 people were killed in an armed uprising against the coup plotters in Gwangju. Eventually, Roh’s favors earned him a series of high government posts.
Turning to Democracy
When coup leader Chun Doo-hwan named Roh as his successor eight years later, the population rose in revolt. In mass protests, South Koreans demanded democratic reforms. To keep the peace, Roh distanced himself from his predecessor and introduced reforms including a directly elected president. He led the country until 1993.
Roh really put his country on the map when he opened the Seoul Olympics in 1988. He established diplomatic relations with Russia and China and in 1991 South Korea was incorporated into the United Nations. The country also flourished economically.
However, his last years in the presidential palace were overshadowed by corruption scandals, which forced him to resign. In 1996, he and his military and political friend Chun were sentenced to long prison terms for the 1979 Gwangju massacre and massive fraud. A year later, the new president pardoned them. In 2013, Roh, with the help of his family, had repaid all the money that had gone into his pockets to the state.
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