Former South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan dies at 90, according to media

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Chun died at his home in Seoul.

General Chun Doo-hwan seized power in a coup after the assassination of former leader Park Chung-hee in 1979.

During his tenure between 1980 and 1988, the economy took off and Seoul won the 1988 Olympics, held shortly after he became the first South Korean leader to transfer power peacefully.

However, the memory of the harsh repression and the iron fist of his dictatorship still keep him today as one of the most vilified figures in the country.

In fact, he is known as the “Butcher of Gwangju” for the army’s repression of a popular uprising against his power in that city in the southwest of the country.

The official balance estimates that 200 people died or disappeared in these events, although activists assure that the losses could be three times higher.