Former South Korean defense minister Chung Ho-yong dies at 94 after Gwangju massacre conviction

Chung Ho-yong, born in Daegu in 1932 and a graduate of the Korea Military Academy’s 11th class alongside Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, died at 94. He was the final surviving member of the five-person “new military group” that seized power after President Park Chung-hee’s assassination and later directed the 1980 crackdown on the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. Convicted by the Supreme Court in 1997 and sentenced to seven years, he never admitted responsibility or offered an apology, even refusing an in-person interview with the Truth Commission.

His funeral altar has been set up at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. His death closes a chapter on direct accountability for the Gwangju tragedy.