Kwangju Testimony Due Amid Seoul Stalemate

SEOUL —  Potentially explosive testimony on the Kwangju uprising is scheduled to begin in the National Assembly today as former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan remains locked in a tense stalemate with ruling party officials over demands that he apologize for alleged corruption and abuse of power and return disputed assets to the state.

The nationally televised hearings are to be held before an Assembly committee investigating brutal military suppression of the 1980 citizens’ uprising in Kwangju. Nearly 200 people, by official count, were killed in the incident, which has become a cause celebre for the democratization movement.

Similar hearings held last week by another committee investigating financial irregularities during Chun’s seven-year rule had higher TV viewer ratings than the Olympic Games and provoked widespread demands that the retired strongman be prosecuted.

Chun’s Brother Arrested

Already, an independent criminal investigation is closing in on Chun and his immediate family. With the arrest of his older brother Saturday and a cousin Tuesday, charges of bribery or embezzlement have been brought against eight of Chun’s relatives. As many as 14 family members have been barred from leaving the country pending the outcome of the probe.

Intense pressure is also mounting on President Roh Tae Woo, who succeeded Chun in February, and on the ruling Democratic Justice Party to defuse the crisis by persuading Chun to make a public apology.

Roh returned from a 12-day trip to Southeast Asian and Pacific countries Monday as Chun and officials of the Democratic Justice Party--which Chun founded after grabbing power in a 1980 military coup--were bickering over the conditions of a political settlement.

Power Struggle Seen

Roh was expected to visit Chun’s Seoul home and resolve the dispute, but the two former generals--once close friends but now apparently bitter rivals in a power struggle--had failed to meet as of Thursday.

News reports quoted sources close to Chun as saying he would probably apologize in a press conference early next week, but on his own terms.

Roh and the ruling party are reportedly urging Chun not only to apologize but also to return “ill-gotten wealth” to the government and retire quietly to his country estate. Their intention, according to political analysts, is to protect Chun from public wrath at the same time they distance themselves from his problems.

But a stubborn Chun is demanding immunity from prosecution and denying that he benefited personally from graft and therefore has no substantial assets to surrender. At the same time he is threatening a “bombshell” disclosure that would reveal how his own money-power politics tainted a wide range of ruling and opposition party leaders.

Country Home Burned

Chun also rejected the suggestion that he move to the country, which in Korean tradition would be perceived as a disgraceful form of internal exile. It may be a moot point anyway: On Nov. 11, radical students torched and destroyed the thatched-roof home where Chun was born at Hapchon in the southeastern part of the country.

Chun has so far ignored a summons to testify about his role in crushing the Kwangju revolt before the investigative committee today. If he does not appear, as expected, the opposition-dominated Assembly has the power to cite him for contempt, but no teeth to enforce the citation. It is up to the prosecutor’s office, under Roh’s command, to decide whether to take action within 60 days.

Top opposition leader Kim Dae Jung met with dissident leaders Thursday and reiterated his position that Chun should not be punished for alleged wrongdoings if the truth is uncovered and Chun properly apologizes. Kim’s Party for Peace and Democracy has its constituent base in the Kwangju region and steers the committee investigating the uprising.

Dissidents plan to stage mass rallies around the country Saturday calling for Chun’s prosecution. Violence erupted on Seoul’s streets Nov. 5 when demonstrators demanded the arrest of Chun and his wife, Lee Soon Ja.

Even a demonstration Thursday in Seoul by farmers protesting U.S. agricultural imports took on anti-Chun overtones, as thousands of marchers denounced the former ruler before riot police scattered them with tear gas as they approached the U.S. Embassy.

Immunity Opposed

Editorials in major newspapers, meanwhile, have unanimously called upon Chun to testify before the Assembly and opposed granting him immunity from prosecution. Public opinion polls suggest that sentiment runs overwhelmingly against Chun.

But ruling party officials argue that punishing Chun would undermine efforts to establish a tradition of peaceful transfer of power in South Korea. Chun became the first South Korean president to voluntarily relinquish power after Roh’s victory in last December’s presidential election.