Chapter 2: Your Excellency!
Sergeant Foley
Well-known member
Personal PoV's: President Chun!
Saturday, November 12, 1983
Blue House, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Official First Family portrait of Republic of Korea President Chun Doo-hwan; Republic of Korea First Lady Madam Lee Soon-ja and their four children.
"Seeing President and Mrs. Reagan arriving in the Republic of Korea is a historic moment for both of our countries, which will cement the ROKUS Alliance for generations forever."Saturday, November 12, 1983
Blue House, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Official First Family portrait of Republic of Korea President Chun Doo-hwan; Republic of Korea First Lady Madam Lee Soon-ja and their four children.
ROK President Chun Doo-hwan
November 12, 1983.
Following the shocking assassination of then-ROK President Park Chung-hee by the KCIA on October 26, 1979, the Republic of Korea quickly descended into total and utter chaos.
Under the cover of "maintaining national security", the Defense Security Command which was being run by Chun quickly gained influence inside the government: intelligence briefings of the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency) were being sent to Chun inside his office at the ROK Army Defense Security Command Headquarters 24/7. Members of the administration of ROK President Choi Kyu-hah (who ascended to the Presidency upon Park's assassination) were being aggressively influenced by Chun and his subordinates.
During this period: concerned about the welfare and safety of the family of then-President Park Chung-hee, Chun personally gave $500,000 USD and likely more to Park's eldest daughter (and future ROK President) Park Geun-hye. When word reached Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa, he reprimanded and viciously scolded Chun during a closed door meeting; Chun was determined to NOT let anyone humiilate him like that again.
Hanahoe, the secretive group of high-ranking ROK Army commissioned officers (which included Chun and his close friends from the KMA) became strongly aggressive and applied persuasive tactics by courting government officials by pledging new positions "in the new administration". Chun had obstacles in his path of completing his ambitious of leading the Republic of Korea: Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa and President Choi Kyu-hah.
Chun subsequently ordered all intelligence briefings to now be sent to his office at 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM everyday, so he could decide what information to be given to higher command. In one quick move, Chun quickly took control of the entire country's national intelligence agencies. He also put the KCIA Deputy Chief of Foreign Affairs in charge of running the day-to-day business of the KCIA.
From the personal PoV of Army Major Park Jun-kwang, who worked under Chun at the ROK Armed Forces Defense Security Command, who commented on the situation at the time:
"In front of the most powerful organisations under the Park Chung-hee presidency, it surprised me how easily [Chun] gained control over them and how skillfully he took advantage of the circumstances. In an instant, he seemed to have grown into a giant."
In the following month before the coup, Chun, Roh Tae-woo, Yu Han-seong, Heo San-su and many others from the 11th graduating class of 1955 of the Korean Military Academy continued taking advantage of the fragile and tenuous political crisis by aggressively growing the strentgh of Hanahoe including courting key military commanders as well as openly subverting the nation's intelligence organizations.
Fast forward to December 12, 1979: The 12.12.79 Incident began when Chun's loyal forces arrested Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa; General Jang Tae-wan, commander of the Capitol Garrison Command and General Jeong Byoeng-ju, commander of the Special Forces were also arrested by the rebel troops. Despite a violent gunfight between soldiers fighting fellow soldiers, the 29th Regiment, 9th Division along with the 1st and 3rd Brigades invaded downtown Seoul supporting the 30th and 33rd Security Group loyal to Chun. Almost immediately, Chun was in total control of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces once the rebel troops took control of the Ministry of Defense and the Army Headquarters.
Following a more aggressive and violent deadlier coup in Gwangju, when Chun's loyalist military troops violently cracked down on protesters and outside agitators during the 05.18-27.80 Incident including the dissolution of the National Assembly, enforcing reeducation camps, etc., Chun was promoted to Lieutenant General and the four-star rank of General, he also served as the Director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.
Following taking over full control of the entire government and everything else, Chun retired from the Republic of Korea Army on August 22, 1980 after 25 years. Upon the resignation of President Choi on August 16, 1980, Chun's path to the Blue House (Residence of the ROK President) was pretty much assured: On August 27, 1980, the members of the National Conference for Unification met at the Jangchung Arena to vote in the indirect election for the Presidency and Chun was the sole candidate. He garnered 2,524 votes with 99.99% of the vote with 1 invalid vote; this was done to differentiate from North Korean dictator Kim II Sung's indirect election victories; Chun was inaugurated as the Republic of Korea's 11th President at the Jamsil Arena. He was reelected by the National Conference on February 25, 1981 against three minor candidates garnering 4,755 votes with 90.23% of the vote and inaugurated for a second term as the 12th President on March 3, 1981, which also took place at the Jamsil Arena and again in December 1987 winning 83.73% of the vote and was inaugurated for a third term as the 13th President on February 25, 1988 on the grounds of the National Assembly.
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