S. Korea to Query Another Ex-President : Asia: Prosecutors want to question former leader Choi Kyu Hah about 1979 coup for which successor faces charges.

Following the arrest and interrogation Sunday of former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, prosecutors said they now intend to question another former president about a 1979 military mutiny led by Chun.

It remained unclear whether prosecutors are interested in former President Choi Kyu Hah only as a witness against Chun and other plotters of the mutiny or whether Choi may also be a subject of investigation for possible crimes.

Chun’s arrest Sunday was on charges that, by leading the mutiny, which eventually led to his assumption of the presidency, he was a “ringleader of arms seizure and insurrection.”

During nine hours of questioning at Anyang Prison, Chun denied that the actions he took in 1979 constituted a mutiny, insisting he had acted according to law, South Korean television reported.

Choi became South Korea’s acting president after the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency assassinated President Park Chung Hee on Oct. 26, 1979. Choi formally assumed the presidency on Dec. 6 of that year.

Six days later, in the act for which Chun was arrested Sunday, military officers led by Chun--who was a general at the time--rebelled against Army Chief of Staff Chung Sung Hwa. Chung was also commander of martial law then in effect for the Seoul region.

That same night in 1979, South Korea’s defense minister announced that Chung was under investigation for having played a role in Park’s assassination--a charge that South Korean dissidents and loyalist army officers have always called untrue. The following day, after visits by Chun and other army generals, then-President Choi retroactively approved Chung’s arrest.

These events, known in South Korea as the Dec. 12 incident, set the stage for a coup by Chun the following May that made him the nation’s de facto ruler, although Choi remained in office for several more months. Chun’s coup in turn provoked an uprising in the city of Kwangju that the military suppressed, killing about 200 civilians.

The current government’s view of the mutiny was reflected in the charges against Chun listed in his arrest warrant: masterminding a military rebellion, unauthorized mobilization of military units, deserting a commander’s post under a state of martial law, killing a superior officer, attempting to slay superiors and murder of a military guard. The charges carry a possible death penalty.

Chun does not now face charges relating to the Kwangju massacre. But last month, President Kim Young Sam ordered the ruling party to prepare special legislation that would allow prosecution of Chun and former President Roh Tae Woo for that incident too.

During his interrogation Sunday, Chun denied responsibility for the 1980 killings in Kwangju, arguing that he had no authority to deploy forces at that time, television reported.

Roh, a former general who played a key role backing Chun in the mutiny--and then succeeded him as president in 1988--was jailed Nov. 16 on unrelated bribery charges after publicly confessing to having accumulated a $653-million slush fund while in office. Prosecutors said Sunday that Roh will be formally indicted on bribery charges Tuesday, a day later than previously planned.

Although many key participants, including Chun and loyalist army officers he ousted, have spoken publicly about their versions of the tumultuous events of 1979 and 1980, Choi has maintained a stony silence on the subject ever since Chun pushed him from the presidency to take it himself Sept. 1, 1980.

Prosecutors, who have reopened an investigation of the case on orders from President Kim, said they questioned Roh at length Saturday about his role in the incident.