‘Bud of glorification’ grows at ex-president Chun Doo-hwan's birthplace in Hapcheon

A plaque honoring former President Chun Doo-hwan as a “heroic president who overcame the crisis” is displayed in the yard of his birthplace in Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam. Photo taken on May 14. Reporter Kang Hyeon-seok

“Let's honor the heroic President Chun Doo-hwan who overcame the crisis in Korea.”

This is the phrase written on two signs installed in the yard of former President Jeon Doo-hwan's birthplace in Hapcheon-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, which we visited on May 14.

We checked with Hapcheon County to find out how the signs were installed and who wrote the phrase. The birthplace of Jeon was built by the county in 1983. The 631-square-meter site was restored with a thatched house, a barn, a shed, and a gate. The county manages the birthplace with a budget of 10 million won every year. “The plaques are believed to have been installed by an unidentified visitor and will be removed by the management department,” Hapcheon-gun said after Kyunghyang Shinmun’s report.

A cypress tree about 1 meter tall grew next to the signs. They seem to have been erected to commemorate the planting of the tree. “March 15, 2023” is the date of the planting. Despite the fact that someone planted a tree and installed a sign glorifying Jeon at his birthplace, which is the county’s public facility, it has not taken any action for more than a year. The seeds of “idolization of Chun Doo-hwan” grew amid acquiescence and neglect.

The information board in front of the house, written in Korean and English, is also filled with the contents of exaggerations and glorification. It says that Jeon, who was a battalion commander of the Capital Security Command in 1968, “was credited with defeating North Korean commandos during the January 21 Incident through careful preparation in advance,” “was the first to be promoted to general among his fellows at the Korea Military Academy,” and “discovered the 3rd North Korean tunnel when he was a division commander.”

Nor does it properly explain the Coup d'état of December Twelfth, which is clearly defined by Supreme Court rulings and historical assessments. The board reads, “When President Park Chung Hee was murdered, Jeon took over as the head of the joint investigation headquarters, and the Coup d'état of December Twelfth occurred during the investigation.” It explains the incident by eliminating the word "military rebellion" and emphasizing that it happened during the process of the "investigation."

Jeon, who came to power through the bloody suppression of the May 18 Democracy Movement, suppressed democracy and repressed citizens during his tenure. The ex-president, who dreamed of staying in power for a long time, was forced out of office in February 1988 after the June Democratic Struggle in 1987. The information board made by Hapcheon-gun glorifies him as “the first president in constitutional history to voluntarily step down after completing his term of office in accordance with his promise to serve a single term when he took office.”

“Even considering that Hapcheon is where Jeon was born, the explanation is absurd and cunningly minimizes his wrongdoing,” said Kim Hee-song, a professor at Chonnam National University, adding that “criminal acts that destroyed the constitutional order should also be described together in the board.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.