Roh Tae-woo (Korean pronunciation: [no tʰɛ.u]; born December 4, 1932 in Daegu, South Korea, is a former ROK Army general and politician. He was the 13th president of South Korea (1988–1993).
Roh befriended Chun Doo-hwan while in high school in Daegu. In his younger life, Roh was a keen rugby union player.
A member of the army from 1955, Roh rose steadily through the ranks and was promoted to major general in 1979. A member of the Hanahoe, a secre...
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Roh Tae-woo (Korean pronunciation: [no tʰɛ.u]; born December 4, 1932 in Daegu, South Korea, is a former ROK Army general and politician. He was the 13th president of South Korea (1988–1993).
Roh befriended Chun Doo-hwan while in high school in Daegu. In his younger life, Roh was a keen rugby union player.
A member of the army from 1955, Roh rose steadily through the ranks and was promoted to major general in 1979. A member of the Hanahoe, a secret military group, he gave critical support to a coup later that year in which Chun became the de facto ruler of South Korea. Roh was a military general when he helped Chun lead troops to the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980.
Chun forced his way into the presidency years later when he retired from the army and Roh became a key official in Chun's government. Most notably, he oversaw preparations for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, which he officially declared open.
In June 1987, Chun named Roh as the presidential candidate of the...
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