President of South Korea. He served as the 6th President of South Korea from February 25, 1988 to February 24, 1993. He was friends in high school with future South Korean president Chun Doo-Hwan. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he joined the South Korean army and later attended the Kprean Military Academy with Chun, where they both graduated in 1955. He rose through the ranks of the army to the rank of general by 1979. In December of 1979, he provided key support to Chun and fellow officers when they launched a coup against the civilian government. He later was a member of the Chun-led junta that ordered the brutal suppression of demonstrators in Kwangju (Gwangju) in May 1980. Chun became president in August of 1980 and he would serve in his friend's administration in various positions. In June of 1987, he was chosen by Chun to run in the upcoming presidential election and was successful in the election. He served in this capacity for the next five years until he stepped down in 1993. During his tenure, he committed himself to the democratization of South Korean politics and had a more conciliatory foreign policy. In October of 1995, he publicly apologized for having illegally amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in secret political donations during his term as president. He subsequently was indicted and tried for corruption as well as for mutiny and sedition for his involvement in the 1979 coup. In August of 1996, he was convicted on all counts and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison, which was later reduced to 17 years, and was fined about $300 million, a sum equivalent to the amount he was convicted of having taken illegally. He later received a pardon in 1997 from both outgoing president Kim Young-Sam and President-elect Kim Dae-Jung. After years of poor health, he passed away in 2021.