Ex-President Chun Doo Hwan's grandson calls him a 'slaughterer'

A previously undisclosed photo of former President Chun Doo-hwan and his grandsons uploaded on a social media feed of Chun Woo-won, who claims to be the ex-president's grandson. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A grandson of former President Chun Doo Hwan, who ruthlessly crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1980, called his grandfather a "slaughterer," while accusing his family of allegedly using money from hidden assets.

Since Monday, the grandson, named Chun Woo-won, has been posting undisclosed photos and fresh revelations about his family on social media that went viral in Korea.

"I believe my grandfather is a slaughterer. He is not a hero that protected the country but just a criminal," he said in a video uploaded on his Instagram account.

The former president, who died at the age of 90 in 2021, seized power in a 1979 military coup and served as a president from 1980 to 1988. He has been widely criticized for the bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju, which left hundreds of people dead.

In a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency, Jae-yong, a son of the former strongman, confirmed that Woo-won is his son.

Jae-yong said his son has suffered severe depression and is confused by his son's actions.

In other posts, the grandson claimed that his father is working to get U.S. citizenship to evade the law and use the slush fund hidden in the United States, while accusing his uncle of operating an expensive winery in California with black money.

One of the posts also included a video of an old woman, assumed to be the former president's wife, Lee Sun-ja, playing screen golf at the ex-president's residence in western Seoul.

The remark seems to be in connection to the financial penalty the former president failed to pay in full, once claiming his entire wealth consisted of 290,000 won ($222).

The former president was convicted of treason, murder for the purpose of treason and bribe-taking, and sentenced to death in 1996. The Supreme Court later commuted his sentence to life in prison and ordered him to pay a forfeiture of over 220 billion won for amassing slush funds.

"My father and stepmother have been living their lives using suspicious black money. [···] They still don't know their sins, and there will be a judgment of justice," Woo-won said, adding he will also pay for his sins.

Yonhap