Chun's 1996 and 1997 trials thrust into spotlight as Yoon's insurrection trials unfold
The sky was dark on Aug. 26, 1996, as summer rain tapped gently on the windows of the Seoul Central District Court. A 65-year-old man in a light turquoise prison jumpsuit, the number 3124 stamped on his chest, stood upright with a faint, almost defiant grin.
Beside him, inmate 1042 looked far more shaken, with bloodshot eyes and graying hair parted carefully to the left. The two held hands as the judge read out their names: Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo.
Once friends and military comrades, the pair had climbed the ranks together. Their rise began after the 1979 assassination of President Park Chung-hee, when Chun, who led the early investigation, seized control of the military on Dec. 12, 1979. His takeover ushered in yet another decade of authoritarian rule.
Chun’s regime violently suppressed the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Upri
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