Former Minister of National Defense Jeong Ho-yong, the only survivor of the new military regime's 'core five', passes away

(Seoul, Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyo-jeong and Kim Ji-won = Former Minister of National Defense Jeong Ho-yong, the only survivor among the 'core five' of the new military regime and convicted of involvement in the suppression of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, has been confirmed dead.

According to Yonhap News coverage on the 13th, former Minister Jeong died at the age of 94 on this day. The funeral was set up at the funeral hall of Ajou University Hospital in Suwon. The funeral home refused to officially confirm former Minister Jeong's death, and Yonhap News directly confirmed the funeral.

Former Minister Jeong, born in 1932, was a classmate of former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo at the 11th Military Academy, and was selected as one of the 'five important figures of the new military administration' along with Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, former Army Chief of Staff and martial law commander Lee Hee-sung, and former Army Deputy Chief of Staff Hwang Young-si.

He participated in the December 12 military rebellion in 1979 and was appointed commander of the Army Special Forces Command the day after the rebellion. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1997 on charges of being involved in the armed suppression of the citizen army defending the Jeonnam Provincial Office as a special forces commander during the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.

Although he was not part of the official chain of command during the martial law outbreak, he was found to have visited Gwangju at least four times during the May 18 Democratization Movement. The Supreme Court later recognized responsibility for supporting the martial law army's operation to re-enter Jeonnam Provincial Office ('Sangmu Chungjeong Operation') on May 27, 1980.

He served as the Army Chief of Staff in the Fifth Republic, retired as an Army General, and rose to success as Minister of the Interior and Minister of National Defense.

In 1988, he was elected to the 13th National Assembly (Daegu, Seo-gu-gap) as a member of the Democratic Justice Party (DJ), but resigned from the National Assembly in December of the following year amidst public opinion that the 5th party was liquidated. Afterwards, he ran again as an independent in the same constituency in the 14th general election in 1992 and was elected.

Afterwards, he served as chairman of the Military Development Fund and chairman of the Special Forces Comrades Association.

During last year's presidential election, the National Election Committee of People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo appointed former Minister Jeong as a standing advisor, but canceled the appointment after five hours as controversy grew.

It is assessed that uncovering the truth about the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement has become more difficult with the death of former Minister Jeong, who was the last surviving member of the five key members of the new military regime.

He has denied responsibility, submitting a written opinion to the May 18 Democratization Movement Fact-finding Investigation Committee in 2021 to the effect that he had nothing to do with May 18.