Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the current democratic constitution, which was promulgated after a lengthy period of indirect elections under military governments following the advent of the Yushin Constitution in 1972.
Born in Daegu, Roh graduated from Korea Military Academy in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in science and later worked in the military. He had known Chun Doo-hwan since high school whom he later helped rule South Korea. Rising steadily through the ranks, he saw action in the Vietnam War, and by 1979 he was a major general and commanded the White Horse Division. In that capacity, Roh played a key role in the December 1979 military coup that brought Chun to power, and supported Chun's violent crackdown of the Gwangju Uprising in 1980. Retiring from the army a year later, he held a series of ministerial posts in Chun's government.
In June 1987, Chun handpicked Roh as the candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party in the upcoming presidential election, which effectively handed Roh the presidency. The announcement triggered large pro-democracy rallies across the country that came to be known as the June Democratic Struggle. In response, Roh worked to distance himself from the Chun government and delivered the June 29 Declaration, promising a broad program of democratic reforms including the direct election of the president. He won the election in December with a plurality and was inaugurated on 25 February 1988.
As president, Roh reaffirmed his commitment to the continuing democratization of South Korean politics. He oversaw the merger of his Democratic Justice Party with Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party. Shortly after inauguration, he presided over the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. In foreign affairs, Roh pursued the policy of Nordpolitik and established diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union and China. Relations with North Korea improved during his presidency, and the two Koreas were simultaneously admitted into the United Nations in 1991. Barred from running for a second term, Roh was succeeded by Kim Young-sam in 1993.
In 1996, Roh and Chun were convicted for corruption as well as their roles in the 1979 coup and the Gwangju massacre; Roh was sentenced to 17 years in prison while Chun was given a life sentence. Both were pardoned the following year by President Kim Young-sam on advice of incoming President-elect Kim Dae-jung. Roh died on 26 October 2021, at the age of 88.
Early life and education Roh was born on 4 December 1932 in Daegu. His ancestry can be traced from Jinan, capital of Shandong, China. He is a 16th generation descendant of who was a civil minister and scholar during the early Joseon period. Noh Sa-sin is a 6th generation descendant of the late Goryeo period bureaucrat Noh Jin (). His father, a low-echelon civil officer in the district, died in a car accident when Roh was seven years old. With his uncle's help, Roh first enrolled at the Daegu Technical School but transferred to the local Kyeongbuk High School, where he was an above-average student. Roh befriended Chun Doo-hwan while in high school in Daegu.
Military service During the Korean War (1950–1953), Roh joined the South Korean army as an enlisted conscript in an artillery unit, alongside singer Song Hae. He was promoted to sergeant of an M114 155 mm howitzer gun line.
He later entered the Korean Military Academy (KMA), completing his studies as part of the first class of the four-year program. He graduated in February 1954 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an Army 2nd lieutenant in the 11th class of the KMA.
A commissioned officer in the infantry from 1954, Roh rose steadily through the ranks and fought first in the Vietnam War in 1968, as a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander, later as a major general and the commander of White Horse Division in 1979. A member of the Hanahoe, a secret military group, he gave critical support to the 1979 coup d'état of December Twelfth, in which Chun became the de facto ruler of South Korea. Roh helped Chun suppress the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980.
Roh held several key army posts, such as commander of the Capital Security Command in 1979 and commander of the Defense Security Command in 1980.
When Roh first joined the military, his surname was transcribed in English as "No." He later changed it to "Roh," which was based on the pronunciation without the application of the initial sound rule, to avoid the negative connotations of "No" in English.
Political career Cabinet minister Following his retirement from the Army in July 1981, Roh accepted Chun's offer of the post of Minister of State for National Security and Foreign Affairs. Later, he served as Sports Minister, Home Affairs Minister, President of the Seoul Olympics Organizing Committee, and in 1985, chairman of the ruling Democratic Justice Party. Most notably, he oversaw preparations for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, which he officially declared open.
June 29 Declaration and run for presidency
Despite his involvement in the coup d'état of December 12 and the bloody military crackdown on dissidents in the Gwangju Uprising, and with an eye towards the Blue House in the upcoming 1987 presidential elections, Roh began working to distance himself from the unpopular Chun government. Roh worked to carry out his own agenda for democratic reform. By agreeing to meet the demands of the political opposition in terms of political reforms with his eight-point proposal, which included direct election of the President, Roh successfully upstaged Chun and boosted his own image as a reformer.
In June 1987, Chun named Roh as the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party. This was widely perceived as handing Roh the presidency on a silver platter, and triggered large pro-democracy rallies in Seoul and other cities in the 1987 June Democracy Movement.
In response, Roh made a speech on 29 June promising a wide program of reforms. Chief among them were a new, more democratic constitution and popular election of the president. On 1 July, Chun gave in and agreed to democratic elections.
In the election in December 1987, the two leading opposition figures, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung (both of whom later became presidents), were unable to overcome their political differences to form a unified ticket, resulting in separate campaigns that split the vote. This enabled Roh to win by a narrow margin with 36.6% of the vote, becoming the country's first democratically elected president on 16 December 1987.
Presidency (1988–1993)
Roh was inaugurated as president on 25 February 1988. For the first time, the ceremony was held outside the National Assembly Building. Subsequent presidents have been inaugurated at the same location. In his inauguration speech, Roh pledged to open an era of democracy, bringing into full play the people's potential.
Roh's rule was notable for hosting the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and for his foreign policy of Nordpolitik, which represented a major break from previous administrations. True to his word, he remained committed to democratic reforms and was steadfast in the push toward political and socio-economic reforms at home. Democratization of politics, economic "growth with equity," and national reunification were the three policy goals publicly stated by the Roh administration.
However, in 1992, Roh's government sealed up a cave on Mount Halla where the remains of the Jeju uprising massacre victims had been discovered, continuing a series of coverups by successive administrations on the truth of the uprising.
Merging of political parties in 1990 In order to overcome the paralysis of governing due to lack of majority support in the National Assembly, the Roh government sought to attain "a grand compromise" in partisan politics. A party merger was announced on 22 January 1990 in an attempt to accomplish this political objective. The ruling Democratic Justice Party merged with two opposition parties, Kim Young-sam's Reunification and Democracy Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party. The new established Democratic Liberal Party, which commanded a more than two-thirds majority in the legislature, sought to establish political stability so as to enable socio-economic progress. However, the merger was fraught with factional infighting, undermining his administration's handling of national affairs.
Foreign policy
He met with President Corazon Aquino for a series of talks between the Philippines and South Korea for economic, social, and cultural ties, supporting the Filipino boxer Leopoldo Serantes in the Olympics, and to discuss unification talks to end North Korea's hostility after the Korean War.
During his administration, Roh's stance as President was very active in diplomacy. Successfully hosting the 24th Summer Olympics in Seoul in his first year in office was a major accomplishment, followed by his active diplomacy, including his address before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1988, his meeting with U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and delivering a speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress. He also conducted a five-nation European visit in December 1989.
On 7 July 1988, he launched an aggressive foreign policy initiative called the Northern Diplomacy, or Nordpolitik, which brought about benefits and rewards to his government. In 1989, Seoul established diplomatic relations with Hungary and Poland, followed by diplomatic ties with Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Mongolia in 1990. South Korea's trade with the People's Republic of China steadily increased, reaching the $3.1 billion mark at the same time South Korea's trade with the Eastern Bloc nations and the Soviet Union increased to $800 million. Seoul and Moscow exchanged full consular general's offices in 1990. Roh's moves left North Korea more isolated and was a dramatic and historic turning point of South Korea's diplomatic goals.
On 4 June 1990, Roh met with Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, during a visit to the United States. The meeting ended 42 years of official silence between the two countries and paved the way for improved diplomatic relations. Roh later visited the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1992, South Korea established diplomatic relations with the PRC.
North Korean relations The Nordpolitik policy also proposed the interim development of a "Korean Community", which was similar to a North Korean proposal for a confederation.
From 4 to 7 September 1990, high-level talks were held in Seoul, at the same time that the North was protesting about the Soviet Union normalizing relations with the South. In December 1991 both states made an accord, the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Exchange and Cooperation, pledging non-aggression and cultural and economic exchanges. They also agreed on prior notification of major military movements and established a military hotline, and working on replacing the Korean Armistice Agreement with a "peace regime". The agreement was praised for forming a foundation for cross-border exchanges and cooperation.