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S.Korea's Roh comes back, unlike unhappy predecessors
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-14 10:32 South Korea's presidents have
often met unhappy endings, their terms in office culminating in coups, exile,
assassination or prison.
Roh Moo-hyun added a new chapter to that troubled history when the
opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to impeach him on March 12.
His fate was then put in the hands of the Constitutional Court; it had six
months to decide whether to uphold or overturn the vote.
But the court's nine judges ruled on Friday to overturn the vote, meaning Roh
was automatically reinstated and can finish his single five-year term that runs
until February 2008.
Following is a summary of the fates of leaders since the Republic of Korea
was founded in 1948. Two short-term leaders + Yun Bo-seon (1960-1961) and Choi
Kyu-hah (1979-1980) + are not included.
Rhee Syng-man (1948-1960)
An independence movement leader in the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial period,
Rhee set up the Republic of Korea with the help of the United States. In his
final year in office, Rhee's manipulation of the presidential election vote
provoked a nationwide student protest, forcing him to step down and seek refuge
in Hawaii. He died in exile in 1965.
Park Chung-hee (1961-1979)
A former elementary school teacher and general, Park took office in a
military coup. He was gunned down in 1979 while having dinner with his
intelligence agency chief, five years after his wife was shot dead by a
supporter of North Korea.
Chun Doo Hwan (1980-1988)
General Chun took office under martial law when he forced interim president
Choi Kyu-hah, who took over after Park's assassination, to step down.
Yielding to a student-led democracy campaign in 1987, he allowed a national
election to directly elect a president. His successor and military colleague,
Roh Tae-woo, allowed the National Assembly to conduct a humiliating
investigation into Chun's presidency when Seoul was hosting the 1988 Olympics.
After his resignation, Chun spent two spartan years in internal exile at a
remote Buddhist monastery in the mountains.
Roh Tae-woo (1988-1993)
After taking office in 1993, Roh's successor Kim Young-sam led an
anti-corruption campaign that put Roh and Chun on trial for bribery. The two
former presidents were later separately charged with mutiny and treason for
their roles in the 1979 coup and 1980 massacre of civilians in Kwangju.
Both were convicted in August 1996 of treason, mutiny and corruption; Chun
was sentenced to death, later commuted to life in jail, while Roh's 22-1/2-year
jail sentence was reduced to 17 years on appeal. Both were released from prison
in early 1998.
Kim Young-sam (1993-1998)
He allowed family-owned conglomerates (chaebol) to expand recklessly by
piling up mountains of debt, sowing the seeds of the 1997 financial crisis.
In his final weeks in office, the country, teetering on the brink of
bankruptcy, was forced to seek a $58-billion bailout led by the International
Monetary Fund. His son was arrested and jailed for corruption but freed under
Kim Dae-jung.
Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003)
Dissident-turned-statesman Kim Dae-jung was sentenced to death under Chun
before being allowed to go into exile in the United States.
Elected president in late 1997, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his policy
of reconciliation with communist North Korea, but business scandals tarnished
his last year in office. Two of his sons were convicted of bribery and tax
evasion.
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