Chun Doo-hwan
The centre of 12.12 and of the Fifth Republic. Convicted in the 1990s; a contested death-and-memory figure after 2021.
Night
3
May
3
Trial
3
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Scale18
Intensity42
Duration28
Tech shift12
Political impact52
Cultural memory44
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Are the scores a ranking of nations or armies?
No. Scores are browsing aids inside an era-bounded atlas — not live league tables of countries.
How many died on 12.12?
Shooting in Seoul that night was limited; it was not a battle like 1950. The large death ledger is Gwangju in May 1980 -- hundreds in official counts, higher in civic estimates.
Who was Hanahoe?
A secret fraternity of officers, many from the 11th class of the Korea Military Academy, including Chun and Roh Tae-woo. It operated inside the formal army.
What was 10.26?
The 26 October 1979 assassination of President Park by Kim Jae-gyu, his intelligence chief -- the vacuum 12.12 filled.
How does Gwangju connect?
17 May 1980 expanded the new military's control; Gwangju resisted and was crushed. 12.12 is the December preface to May.
Were Chun and Roh tried?
Yes, in the mid-1990s, for mutiny and for Gwangju. Sentences were later remitted -- a legal and political afterlife.
Chun in sunglasses is the dark icon; Gwangju's cemetery is the civic icon. Jeong is the legal-army icon of the night.
Recent film made 12.12 visually available to people who were not born in 1979.
People
Roh Tae-woo
Moved a key division on 12.12; later president (1988-93) and convicted alongside Chun.
Unit
3
Later
3
Trial
3
Jeong Seung-hwa
The legal army head arrested on 12.12 -- the coup's immediate object.
Office
3
Night
3
Role
3
Choi Kyu-hah
The civilian transitional face who could not command the guns after 10.26.
Office
3
Power
3
After
3
Kim Jae-gyu
Assassin of Park on 10.26 -- the vacuum-maker, executed in 1980.
Act
3
Death
3
Role
3
Park Chung-hee
The long authoritarian who died at dinner; 12.12 is a fight over his army's heir.
Rule
3
Death
3
Army
3
Yun Bo-seon / civic opposition
Older civilian opposition names (Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung) are the political targets of 17 May -- include Kim Dae-jung's arrest as the May file.
May 1980
3
Later
3
Point
3
John A. Wickham Jr.
The named US general in later arguments about what Washington knew -- a source in alliance history, not a coup commander.
Role
3
Debate
3
Point
3
Debate
How much could the US have stopped?
The live alliance argument: notification, CFC authorities, May 1980 cables. Research continues; cartoons do not help.
Is 12.12 a coup or a "military action"?
It was a coup: the legal Army Chief was seized by a faction. Later verdicts said so.
Do not let a Hollywood-style "one night in Seoul" erase 5.18.
Do not let a USFK conspiracy cartoon erase Hanahoe.