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Wednesday April 24, 2024

Ex-S Korean president Roh Tae-woo dies

By AFP
October 27, 2021

SEOUL: Former South Korean president and general Roh Tae-woo, who was instrumental in crushing the Gwangju Uprising at a cost of hundreds of lives, died of natural causes on Tuesday aged 88, according to reports.

Roh withdrew from public view around 20 years ago following a diagnosis of prostate cancer, and was being treated at the Seoul National University Hospital, Yonhap news agency reported. He was elected to serve as president from 1988-93, succeeding his old friend and dictator Chun Doo-hwan who took power in a military coup with Roh in 1979.