Death Penalty Sought For Former President Chun Doo Hwan Led Bloody Military Coup In South Korea

South Korean prosecutors Monday demanded the death penalty for former President Chun Doo Hwan and life imprisonment for his successor, Roh Tae Woo, for presiding over some of the bloodiest days of South Korea’s authoritarian past.

Chun and Roh, both former army generals, face charges of treason for their roles in a bloody military coup in December 1979, as well as a 1980 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in which at least 200 people died. Both men are also accused of using bribes to amass hundreds of millions of dollars in secret political slush funds.

Senior Prosecutor Kim Sang Hee told the Seoul court Monday that Chun, president from 1980 to 1988, and Roh, who served from 1988 to 1993, should be found guilty and severely punished so that “this trial will serve as a historic landmark by showing that laws and justice rule this land.”

“It is the duty of our generation to settle the legacies of a wrongful past,” Kim said. “We must make sure the criminal acts of destroying the constitution, repressing the freedom of the people or corrupting the national economy by accepting bribes should never be repeated.”

Chun and Roh have denied the charges against them. No date has been set for a ruling by the three-judge panel hearing the case; but analysts said it could come in the next few weeks.

Both men are widely expected to be convicted. But despite Kim’s calls for heavy sentences, few in South Korea believe the two former presidents will receive such harsh penalties. South Korean judges often impose lighter sentences than those sought by prosecutors.

More importantly, many South Koreans worry about the spectacle of the government executing one former president and locking up another for life.

One government official said both former presidents would probably receive moderate prison sentences from the judges.