South Korean military ruler who seized power
1979; president 1981-88 as head of the newly
formed Democratic Justice Party. Chun,
trained in Korea and the USA, served as an
army commander from 1967 and was in charge of
military intelligence 1979 when President
Park was assassinated by the chief of the
Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA).
General Chun took charge of the KCIA and, in
a coup, assumed control of the army and the
South Korean government. In 1981 Chun was
appointed president, and oversaw a period of
rapid economic growth, governing in an
authoritarian manner. In 1988 he retired to a
Buddhist retreat.