Ex-President Choi Passes at Age 87

Former president Choi Kyu-ha died at 7:37 a.m. on October 22, at the age of 87 due to his old age. Choi, who had suffered from heart disease, was found unconscious at his home in Seogyo-dong, Seoul around 6:00 in the morning. He was taken to Seoul National University Hospital and underwent CPR, but passed away. According to the hospital, the cause of the former president’s death was due to acute heart failure.

Choi, who was the oldest among the former presidents, served as Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979. After former President Park’s assassination in October 26, 1979, he served shortly as acting President and at the end of the same year, he was elected as the 10th president of Korea.

Former President Choi, however, could not use his authority wholly after former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo took military power through a coup d’etat on December 12, 1979. Choi had to step down on August 15, 1980.

After Choi’s inauguration, he contributed to stabilizing the society by pardoning 687 political prisoners including former president Kim Dae-jung, but had to watch the rapid changes of the society, such as the democratic movement on May 18, 1980 in Gwangju.

His tenure of office was less than eight months, the shortest term ever since the establishment of the constitutional government.

After resigning, the late Choi kept silence not to tell the truth about turbulent periods such as the behind-the-scenes story of the military taking over and lived almost a reclusive life. During the Kim Young-sam administration in 1995 when prosecutors were investigating the military coup d’etat in December 1979 and the Gwangju Democratic Movement in May 1980, the late Choi was asked to take the stand as a witness to give some details of those days but refused to do so.

This is the fourth death of all former presidents of Korea, following the former presidents Rhee Syng-man (1965), Park Jung-hee (1979) and Yoon Bo-sun (1990).

The Roh administration decided to give him a 5-day nationally sponsored funeral according to the national funeral law. The final decision will be made at the extra Cabinet meeting in response to Choi’s family members’ intention on October 23.

On the same day, President Roh called Choi Yoon-hong, the eldest son of former president Choi to express his condolences and sent his Chief of Staff, Lee Byung-wan and his Chief Secretary Lee Baek-man to Seoul National University Hospital.

Former President Choi is survived by his two sons (Yoon-hong and Jong-seok) and one daughter. Seo Dae-won, the headquarter ambassador of the Foreign Ministry, is his son-in-law.

yongari@donga.com