S. Korea Indicts Ex-Leaders, Including Ailing Chun

Former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo were indicted today on charges stemming from a 1979 mutiny, prosecutors said, with the formal charges coming just hours after Chun was moved from his prison cell to a hospital.

Prosecutors said Chun and Roh were each charged with six offenses relating to the Dec. 12, 1979, takeover of the army: illegal movement of troops, desertion of assigned posts, killing of superiors, injury of superiors, killing of sentries and leading a mutiny.

Roh is already on trial for bribery in connection with a $653-million slush fund he amassed during his 1988-93 term in office.

Chun, who was hospitalized due to a hunger strike that began with his arrest Dec. 3, traveled via ambulance from Anyang Prison on the outskirts of Seoul to the National Police Hospital. He arrived shortly after midnight and was carried on a stretcher to a VIP room. Chun has refused all solid food since his arrest and has subsisted on barley tea and water.

Chun is in good enough condition to undergo questioning, authorities said. He was interrogated at length on the day of his arrest but since then has apparently refused to answer any questions.

Chun Jae Kook, the former president’s son, told reporters after a prison visit Wednesday that his father “could barely talk because he was so weak.”

Chun and Roh are former generals. Roh played a key role assisting Chun in the mutiny, which was followed by the nationwide imposition of martial law on May 17, 1980, and the bloody suppression of a pro-democracy uprising that began the next day in the southwestern city of Kwangju.

Chun assumed the presidency later that year and held it until 1988.

Prosecutors plan to add corruption charges against Chun in connection with allegations that he accumulated a slush fund of about $390 million while in office, local media said.

Meanwhile, Roh’s daughter, Roh So Yong, and her husband, Chey Tae Won, appeared before prosecutors today for questioning about whether they received illicit funds from the former president, local media reported.