Former president Choi Kyu-hah died Sunday at the age of 88. Choi was found unconscious at his home in Seogyo-dong, Seoul, at 6 a.m. and taken to Seoul National University, where he died at 7:37 a.m. He was the oldest living former president. The exact cause of his death was not immediately confirmed, but doctors say he died of acute heart failure.
 |
|
Choi Kyu-hah is sworn in as the 10th president of South Korea on Dec. 21, 1979.
|
 |
|
Born in Wonju, Gangwon Province, Choi was prime minister until he became acting president following the Oct. 26, 1979 assassination of president Park Chung-hee. He was sworn in as the 10th president in December of the same year but resigned as chief executive in August 1980 after the Dec. 12, 1979 military coup. Choi takes many details of the military coup with him to his grave. He is initially said to have refused to authorize the arrest of Army chief of staff general Chung Sung-hwa on the day of the coup led by then head of the Defense Security Command Chun Doo-hwan, who later succeeded him, and Chun's aide Roh Tae Woo, then commander of the Ninth Army Division.
The coup leaders pressured defense minister Noh Jae-hyun to persuade Choi to order the arrest of the Army chief of staff. Choi gave in to the pressure and approved Chung¡¯s arrest on the morning of Dec. 13, helping the coup leaders rise to power. With eight months, he served the shortest presidential term in South Korea¡¯s history and remained silent over the dramatic military coup until he died.
 |
|
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon talks to reporters on Sunday afternoon after visiting the funeral chapel at Seoul National University Hospital, where former president Choi Kyu-hah lies in state.
|
|
|
A graduate in English language and literature from Tokyo Teachers College, he briefly worked as a professor at the Teachers College of Seoul National University after Korea¡¯s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. He entered the bureaucracy in 1946 and was appointed foreign minister in 1967 and prime minister in 1975. His wife Hong Ki¡¯s death two years ago discouraged him, and his own worsening health confined him to his house. He was unable to attend the Oct. 10 meeting of former presidents with President Roh Moo-hyun over the North Korean nuclear test.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
