Chun Doo-hwan attends court hearing in libel case
- 5 years ago
전두환 재판 진행 중... 5•18 유공자 및 단체 '사죄하라'
The top story this hour is former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan in court to face charges of libel.
In defending the government's crackdown on pro-democracy activists almost 40 years ago, he's accused of defaming the dead.
His hearing started about half an hour ago at the district court in Gwangju.
Our Choi Si-young is standing by there.
Si-young, any news from the hearing so far?
Well, Devin. No major developments yet.
But from what i hear, it is highly likely that in addition to the two sides making their cases, the court will likely check to see if Chun has no difficulty communicating.
That's because Chun had refused to attend the hearing twice in the past, citing dementia and the flu.
So, at the hearing, Chun is joined by his lawyer AND his wife Rhee Soon-ja.
Only the audience of 103 people are allowed in the courtroom to watch the hearing in real-time.
While the trial is ongoing, a number of protesters are still outside the courthouse demanding that Chun apologize for the crackdown against the Gwangju democracy movement.
"If he had taken full responsibility for what had happened in Gwangju in 1980 and said sorry at the time, we wouldn't be having this chaos today."
"If Chun appears before court today, I hope he delivers his apology to the people of Gwangju for the crackdown in 1980."
Si-young, can you tell us the charges he faces,... and what are the sticking points between Chun and the prosecutors?
Sure. Chun is accused of writing false accounts about May 18 Pro-Democracy Movement in Gwangju,... in a memoir published in 2017.
In the memoir, he denied claims by the witnesses that the government used military choppers to shoot at protesters.
In doing so, he called the late activist and priest Cho Bi-oh, who said he saw the chopper attacks, a "shameless liar."
Now, that's defaming the dead, which is punishable by law under certain conditions here in South Korea.
Chun would be found guilty if two conditions are met,... first, Chun's claim of "no chopper attacks" is shown to be "false" and second, he "knowingly" made his claim even though he was aware that it was false.
For the first of those conditions, the prosecutors seem to have overwhelming evidence -- confidential documents from the US Embassy in South Korea as well as the results of a probe by the country's Defense Ministry that all say the attacks did occur.
So, the main issue here is whether Chun "intentionally" made his claim even when he knew it's false.
If found guilty, Chun will serve up to 2 years in prison or pay a maximum of roughly 5-thousand US dollars in fines.
That's all from at this hour. Back to you, Devin.
The top story this hour is former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan in court to face charges of libel.
In defending the government's crackdown on pro-democracy activists almost 40 years ago, he's accused of defaming the dead.
His hearing started about half an hour ago at the district court in Gwangju.
Our Choi Si-young is standing by there.
Si-young, any news from the hearing so far?
Well, Devin. No major developments yet.
But from what i hear, it is highly likely that in addition to the two sides making their cases, the court will likely check to see if Chun has no difficulty communicating.
That's because Chun had refused to attend the hearing twice in the past, citing dementia and the flu.
So, at the hearing, Chun is joined by his lawyer AND his wife Rhee Soon-ja.
Only the audience of 103 people are allowed in the courtroom to watch the hearing in real-time.
While the trial is ongoing, a number of protesters are still outside the courthouse demanding that Chun apologize for the crackdown against the Gwangju democracy movement.
"If he had taken full responsibility for what had happened in Gwangju in 1980 and said sorry at the time, we wouldn't be having this chaos today."
"If Chun appears before court today, I hope he delivers his apology to the people of Gwangju for the crackdown in 1980."
Si-young, can you tell us the charges he faces,... and what are the sticking points between Chun and the prosecutors?
Sure. Chun is accused of writing false accounts about May 18 Pro-Democracy Movement in Gwangju,... in a memoir published in 2017.
In the memoir, he denied claims by the witnesses that the government used military choppers to shoot at protesters.
In doing so, he called the late activist and priest Cho Bi-oh, who said he saw the chopper attacks, a "shameless liar."
Now, that's defaming the dead, which is punishable by law under certain conditions here in South Korea.
Chun would be found guilty if two conditions are met,... first, Chun's claim of "no chopper attacks" is shown to be "false" and second, he "knowingly" made his claim even though he was aware that it was false.
For the first of those conditions, the prosecutors seem to have overwhelming evidence -- confidential documents from the US Embassy in South Korea as well as the results of a probe by the country's Defense Ministry that all say the attacks did occur.
So, the main issue here is whether Chun "intentionally" made his claim even when he knew it's false.
If found guilty, Chun will serve up to 2 years in prison or pay a maximum of roughly 5-thousand US dollars in fines.
That's all from at this hour. Back to you, Devin.