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The late former president Choi Kyu-hah will be buried on Oct. 26, the day his predecessor Park Chung-hee was assassinated 27 years ago. After Park¡¯s death, the then prime minister shortly served as acting president and later formally president. A Cabinet meeting on Monday decided to organize a state funeral for Choi. In accordance with the wishes of their children, the remains of Choi¡¯s late wife Hong Ki, who died in 2004, will be exhumed from her grave and laid to rest alongside her husband.
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Former president Chun Doo-hwan and his wife pay their respects to the late former president Choi Kyu-hah at Seoul National University Hospital on Monday.
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Grand National Party lawmaker Chang Yoon-seok, who as a prosecutor under the Kim Young-sam administration investigated the Dec. 12, 1979 Military Coup and the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980, said Monday he heard during the investigation that Choi was working on memoirs or an autobiography. That would mean the late president did not after all take his memories of the events that ended his short rule, and his role in them, to his grave.
Chang said the former president refused to testify, but he believes Choi stated everything he wanted to say through his close aide, former foreign minister Choi Kwang-su. Chang said he got the feeling that the former president held out as long as he could before giving in to the coup leaders¡¯ pressure to approve the arrest of Army chief of staff general Chung Sung-hwa.
A line of mourners paid their respects to Choi on Monday, his disgraced successor Chun Doo-hwan among them. Chun visited the mortuary with 30 aides, including his former secretary Jang Se-dong. Chun said Choi as a meticulous man would have recorded in detail what happened while he was in office. ¡°The things people want to know will be brought to light,¡± he said. Chun led the military coup and later ousted Choi to take over the job.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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