The widow of South Korea's last military dictator apologized for the pain and scars caused by her husband's brutal rule as dozens of relatives and former aides gathered at a hospital to pay their final respects.
The man who took power in a 1979 coup and violently crushed pro-democracy protests a year later, died at his home Tuesday at the age of 90.
On the final day of the funeral procession, the family held a funeral service at the hospital before taking his remains to a memorial park. During the service at the hospital, Lee Soon-ja said that her husband wanted to be cremated and that his ashes should be spread in border areas near North Korea.
Lee apologized on behalf of the family to the people who suffered pains and scars during her husband's time in office.
The massacre of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in the southern city of Gwangju in 1980 was one of the worst moments in the country's modern history, and was one of the reasons why Chun attempted to solidify his rule following the coup.
Cho Jin-tae, a senior official at a foundation representing Gwangju victims, said Lee's vague expression of remorse rang hollow and called for the family of Chun to back her words with action.
Cho told The Associated Press that he didn't think anyone would be consoled by Lee Soon-ja's comments.
Lee said the comments by the widow insulted the citizens of Gwangju.
He wondered if Lee Soon-ja deliberately excluded the Gwangju victims from her apology. After the killings in Gwangju in May 1980, Chun made himself head-of-state, but it wasn't until September of that year.
After winning the country's first direct election in nearly two decades in 1987, the country's first president after the December 1979 coup was the army major general who succeeded Chun as president. The two former leaders died within a month of each other.
While Roh was given a state funeral, there was less sympathy for Chun, who was nicknamed the "butcher of Gwangju." The son of a man who was bed-ridden in the 10 years before his death visited a Gwangju cemetery to pay respects to the victims and apologized on his father's behalf.
After the assassination of Park Chung-Hee, who had held power since 1961, the military-backed rule of the country was extended. South Koreans suffered huge human rights abuses during their back-to-back dictatorships, but the national economy grew from the ruins of the Korean War.
The government of Chun imprisoned tens of thousands of other dissidents during the 1980s, including Kim Dae-jung, who won the 2000 Peace Prize. Kim was sentenced to death by a military tribunal on accusations of fomenting the Gwangju uprising. Kim was freed after the United States reduced his sentence.
Desperate to gain international legitimacy, the government of Chun pushed a bid to host the 1988 Olympics, a process that was accompanied by massive house clearings and the rounding up of vagrants and homeless people.
The international adoption of Korean children by white families in America and Europe created the world's largest diaspora of adoptees. Most of the children sent abroad were procured from stigmatized unwed mothers who were often pressured to give up their babies.
In 1987, the start of South Korea's transition to democracy was made possible by the public anger over his dictatorship.
The December 1987 election saw a split of the vote between Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, which resulted in the governing party candidate winning.
Kim Young-sam became president in 1993 and had both Chun and Roh stand trial as part of a reform drive. The two ex-presidents were found guilty of treason and other charges. The two men were sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
The Supreme Court reduced the sentences for both of them. After spending about two years in prison, the two men were pardoned in late 1997 by the president-elect who sought national reconciliation.
