Chun Doo Hwan's grandson posts more family criticism on Instagram

Chun Woo-won, grandson of Korea's late strongman Chun Doo Hwan, continued criticizing his family with photographs and cryptic messages through his Instagram account.

Young Chun Woo-won, right, with his grandfather, former President Chun Doo Hwan, in a photo uploaded to Chun Woo-won's Instagram account on Dec. 25. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Chun Woo-won, grandson of Korea's late strongman Chun Doo Hwan, continued criticizing his family with photographs and cryptic messages through his Instagram account.

Chun Woo-won uploaded childhood photo taken with his grandfather and grandmother Lee Soon-ja. In the images, Chun is seen wearing hanbok (traditional Korean dress), holding his grandfather’s hand and spending time with Lee. He also posted a photo of a TV screen showing him being held in his grandfather’s arms.

While the post with Chun's childhood photo with the dictator had nothing written on them, Chun wrote “I wish I had never been born” on another video that he uploaded, also apparently from his childhood.

Chun Doo Hwan took power in a military coup in 1979 and was known for his dictatorship and bloody crackdown on the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju. He was convicted of treason, murder and taking bribes in 1996 and asked to pay a forfeiture of over 220 billion won ($150 million).

Some 128.2 billion won in assets were seized by the government the following year, but the dictator was unable to make up the remaining penalty until he died, claiming he had only 290,000 won. Chun Doo Hwan died in November 2021.

Chun Woo-won's younger self in a photo uploaded to Chun's instagram account on Dec. 25. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Chun Woo-won, left, the grandson of former President Chun Doo Hwan, began a new online webtoon series on his Instagram account, right, on Dec. 4, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS, SCREEN CAPTURE]

Thursday's photo uploads come at the heels of Chun Woo-won's seemingly AI-made webtoon series based on his childhood that he posted since Dec. 4. The webtoon depicts Chun as a white sheep named “Monggeuli,” while portraying the Chun family as black sheep with horns. Chun made the entire series private around Dec. 18, but reuploaded it on Thursday.

The younger Chun first drew attention in 2023 after revealing his drug use and exposing details about his family’s past. He also traveled to Gwangju to express apologies to the victims of the May 18 movement and their bereaved families.

Chun Woo-won also shared photos related to the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement on Thursday. Posting pictures of himself eating and smiling with the bereaved family of the late Moon Jae-hak, he wrote, “I sincerely thank you for embracing an insect like me with love.”

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]