Roh Tae Woo

President Roh Tae Woo fired his defense minister and the powerful chief of military intelligence following allegations that the government spied on more than 1,300 civilians. Roh's office said that Defense Minister Lee Sang Hoon was replaced by Lee Jong Koo, former army chief of staff. Lt. Gen. Cho Nam Pung gave way as commander of the Defense Security Command in favor of Lt. Gen. Koo Chang Hoe.

Imprisoned former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo were freed this morning after South Korea's Cabinet approved a pardon issued by President Kim Young Sam. The decision to release Chun and Roh, who have been imprisoned since 1995 for mutiny, treason and bribery, was reached jointly by Kim Young Sam and his newly elected successor, veteran opposition leader Kim Dae Jung, at a meeting Saturday over lunch at the presidential Blue House.

The proposals put forth by Roh Tae Woo, the ruling Democratic Justice Party's candidate for president of South Korea, are the following: -- Direct presidential elections. -- Amendment of the election law to assure free and fair electoral campaigns. -- Restoration of the civil rights of opposition leader Kim Dae Jung and freedom for all political prisoners except those convicted of treason and violent crimes. -- Extended right of habeus corpus through revisions in the constitution.

In a bold step toward national reconciliation, President Kim Young Sam and his elected successor, Kim Dae Jung--both former dissidents--have agreed to pardon and release two former military-backed presidents imprisoned for mutiny, treason and bribery, the government announced today. "President Kim Young Sam has decided to give special pardons in order to provide momentum for grand national reconciliation," presidential spokesman Shin Woo Jae said in a nationally televised statement.

When authoritarian President Chun Doo Hwan anointed Roh Tae Woo as his successor, to run in a rubber-stamp election for president of South Korea, in June, 1987, he hardly seemed likely to lead the country into democracy. Both Roh and Chun are ex-generals, and Roh had supported Chun in his 1980 coup. During Chun's repressive presidency, Roh stood by his friend, serving in various Cabinet posts and, for a period, heading the 1988 Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee.

The implications of improved Soviet relations with South Korea, not Japan, are the big story from Mikhail Gorbachev's recent visit to the region. If South Korea succeeds in undermining Soviet support for North Korea, outcomes that could resonate throughout Asia are possible. Gorbachev's failure to advance Soviet-Japanese relations dramatically during his unprecedented visit to Tokyo is not surprising, though some voices have tried to make it into a sign of Gorbachev's decline.

In South Korea, inflation generates strange reactions. Police, for example, run around town closing down all bars and restaurants at midnight. Government bureaucrats are ordered to trade in mid-sized cars for smaller models. High-ranking officials are told to reduce the size of their offices. Consumption, especially of imported consumer goods, becomes a social sin.

A South Korean appeals court today overturned the death sentence of disgraced former President Chun Doo Hwan and slashed five years from the sentence of his childhood friend and successor, Roh Tae Woo. Chun's sentence was reduced from death to life in prison, and Roh's from 22 1/2 years to 17 years in prison, according to South Korean state TV.

Former South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, the onetime general who once electrified his nation by calling democratic elections after decades of dictatorship, was arrested and jailed Thursday for allegedly taking bribes worth more than $300 million from 30 business tycoons. A five-page arrest warrant detailed Roh's stunning fall from grace, describing an intricate web of avarice and collusion involving some of the nation's best-known business conglomerates. Daewoo Corp.

Imprisoned former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo were freed this morning after South Korea's Cabinet approved a pardon issued by President Kim Young Sam. The decision to release Chun and Roh, who have been imprisoned since 1995 for mutiny, treason and bribery, was reached jointly by Kim Young Sam and his newly elected successor, veteran opposition leader Kim Dae Jung, at a meeting Saturday over lunch at the presidential Blue House.

Former presidents Roh Tae Woo and Chun Doo Hwan will not make a final appeal to the Supreme Court against their convictions for mutiny, treason and bribery, Roh's lawyer said. "We won't appeal. President Roh doesn't want to cause any more worries to the public over this incident," Han Young Suk said. He added that Chun also will not appeal further.

A South Korean appeals court today overturned the death sentence of disgraced former President Chun Doo Hwan and slashed five years from the sentence of his childhood friend and successor, Roh Tae Woo. Chun's sentence was reduced from death to life in prison, and Roh's from 22 1/2 years to 17 years in prison, according to South Korean state TV.

Forced to appear in court, a former president claimed immunity today and refused to testify against his two successors. Choi Kyu Hah, a figurehead leader for eight months in 1979-80, was ordered to testify in the appeals trial of Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo, former presidents convicted of mutiny and treason in August. Chun was sentenced to death and Roh to 22 1/2 years in prison. Choi took the witness stand but refused to take an oath despite a court warning.

One of the intriguing questions after the sentencing of former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan to death and of his successor, Roh Tae Woo, to a long term in prison was how China's official media would treat the story, given the obvious parallels between the Korean case and the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.

Four South Korean tycoons, including the chairman of the colossal Daewoo Group, drew prison sentences of up to 2 1/2 years for bribing former President Roh Tae Woo, while the heads of five other conglomerates received suspended sentences in a harsh finale Monday to this nation's massive corruption trials. The sentences rocked the business community here because the industrial barons had been seen as far too crucial to South Korea's economic juggernaut to be allowed to languish in jail.

Former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan was sentenced to death today, and former President Roh Tae Woo was given more than 22 years in prison, for seizing power in a 1979 mutiny. In an emotional conclusion to South Korea's "trial of the century," a three-judge panel also confiscated war chests worth about $631 million illegally amassed by Chun and Roh during their dictatorships.

In a bold step toward national reconciliation, President Kim Young Sam and his elected successor, Kim Dae Jung--both former dissidents--have agreed to pardon and release two former military-backed presidents imprisoned for mutiny, treason and bribery, the government announced today. "President Kim Young Sam has decided to give special pardons in order to provide momentum for grand national reconciliation," presidential spokesman Shin Woo Jae said in a nationally televised statement.

Former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan was sentenced to death today, and former President Roh Tae Woo was given more than 22 years in prison, for seizing power in a 1979 mutiny. In an emotional conclusion to South Korea's "trial of the century," a three-judge panel also confiscated war chests worth about $631 million illegally amassed by Chun and Roh during their dictatorships.

As the unprecedented trial of two former South Korean strongmen drew to a close Monday, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for former President Chun Doo Hwan and life in prison for his successor, Roh Tae Woo. The two men are charged with sedition and treason in connection with the 1979 mutiny that brought Chun to power and the massacre of hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in the southwestern city of Kwangju in 1980.

Former South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, facing trial on sedition charges stemming from a bloody 1980 martial-law crackdown, testified Monday that the crushing of student protests had been necessary to safeguard against North Korean attack. "At the time, North Korea had stepped up provocations against our country," Roh, 63, declared defiantly in a court session during which he vigorously disputed prosecutors' interpretations of events.