Chun Doo Hwan on Legal Issues

Chun Doo Hwan’s engagement with legal issues is defined by the prosecution and conviction for crimes stemming from his military actions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was convicted of military insurrection and treason for the December 1979 coup and the subsequent violent suppression of the pro-democracy protests in Gwangju in May 1980. The legal process was highly contentious, involving special legislation to overcome statutory limitations, as critics argued that the coup itself, a successful seizure of power, should not be subject to prosecution or that the subsequent law was unconstitutional retroactive legislation. Despite these arguments, the Constitutional Court ultimately upheld the special act that allowed prosecution to proceed against him.

Following his conviction, Chun Doo Hwan received a death sentence from the trial court for treason and massive corruption, though this was later reduced to life imprisonment on appeal. The basis for the initial conviction and the subsequent sentencing mitigation rested on the view that his actions subverted the constitutional order by grasping power through violence rather than democratic procedure. His defense often centered on the claim that the actions were inevitable to maintain order and that a successful coup establishes a new legal order, arguments which the courts rejected as they sought to rectify past wrongs.