Seoul: Former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo died at the age of 88 on Tuesday due to his deteriorating health condition.
Citing close aides, Yonhap news agency reported Roh was recently admitted to a hospital after his health deteriorated but failed to recover.
Roh, who served as the president of the country from 1998 to 1993, was elected in 1998 through a direct vote.
He had succeeded former President Chun Doo-hwan, whom he had helped in seizing power through a military coup in 1979 after a power vacuum was created by the death of authoritarian President Park Chung-hee.
In his bid to shed his military image, Roh started his administration under the slogan of opening “an era of ordinary people.
He was also sentenced to 17 years in jail and faced 260 billion won (USD 223 million) as fines for his and Chun’s role in the 1979 military coup and in the crackdown on the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
In 1997, he was pardoned by the government of then-President Kim Young-sam.
