(LEAD) Former President Chun Doo-hwan dies at 90
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout; ADDS photo)
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Former President Chun Doo-hwan, a general-turned strongman who seized power through a 1979 military coup and ruthlessly quelled a pro-democracy civil uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju the following year, died Tuesday, aides said. He was 90.
Chun died at his home in western Seoul on Tuesday morning after battling chronic ailments.
The former Army general rose to power after staging a coup in the wake of the assassination of then President Park Chung-hee in 1979 and ruled the country until 1988.
In 1980, Chun ordered a deadly crackdown on the Gwangju civil uprising, leaving more than 200 dead and 1,800 others wounded, according to conservative official data.
In 1996, He was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison but pardoned the following year.
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