SEOUL (UCAN): South Korea’s strict defamation laws caught up with former general and dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, committing libel aganst late Father Cho Chul-hyun, who died in 2016. The 89-year old Chun, known as “the butcher of Gwangju,” attacked Father Cho after he testified that military helicopters fired on civilians in Gwangju, about 330 kilometres from Seoul, during an uprising in 1980, a year after he seized power in a military coup.
The former strongman who was also indicted in 2018 for slander, called Father Cho a “liar” and “Satan “ in a memoir released in 2017.
Father Cho Young-dae, a nephew of the late priest, filed the lawsuit against the former dictator, seeking an 18-month prison term. He welcomed the November 30 verdict but felt the two-year suspended sentence was too lenient.
Under South Korea’s defamation laws, the accused faces up to two years in prison and a fine of five million won ($35,800).
The Gwangju uprising which was crushed by the military, claimed more than 200 lives and began after the disgraced ex-leader expanded martial law in 1980.
The late Father Cho had testified to witnessing the military shooting from helicopters during the uprising. However, Chun denied that any shots were fired at protesters from helicopter and called the priest “Satan wearing a mask.”
However, during the Chun’s libel trial, prosecutors introduced nearly 20 witnesses who corroborated Father Cho’s claims.
South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted the presiding judge as saying that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that shootings from helicopters took place for two days in May 1980.
Chun and his successor, Roh Tae-woo, were convicted in August 1996 over their involvement in the coup in 1979. Chun was sentenced to death, while Roh was given more than 22 years in jail.
The court found Chun guilty of mutiny, treason and corruption. He spent more than two years in the Anyang Correctional Institution near Seoul.
However, both were pardoned by then president, Kim Young-sam, in 1997 on the advice of then president-elect, Kim Dae-jung.
The government said the decision was to promote national harmony.
