Chun Woo-won said he filmed the clips to “help bring to light the crimes his family was committing”. - SCREENGRAB FROM HOPE.WITH.JESUS/INSTAGRAM
SEOUL (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network): A grandson of former South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan claimed that his grandfather was a “slaughterer” and his family was spending “black money” in a series of videos posted to Instagram on Wednesday (March 15).
Chun Woo-won, the second son of the former president’s son Jae-yong and former actress Park Sang-ah, said he filmed the clips to “help bring to light the crimes his family was committing”.
“I think my grandfather was a slaughterer. He is not a hero that defended his country, but merely a criminal,” he said in the Instagram videos, adding that he is working in the strategic consulting department of accounting firm EY Hanyoung in New York.
“My father and stepmother are spending black money, the sources of which are unknown, to lead their lives.”
He also claimed his father was “fabricating papers to conceal his crimes in South Korea to gain US citizenship, fraudulently saying that he is a Christian preacher”.
“Please help so that he cannot come to the US to use secret funds hidden somewhere and pretend to be good and commit devilish acts. I beg of you. I’m also a sinner, and I will pay for my sins.”
Chun Jae-yong told the online edition of local daily Chosun Ilbo that his son was ill and that it was his fault that he did not take care of him.
He said his son had suffered greatly from depression and was fine until he “changed abruptly on Monday”, and called Chun Jae-yong a “devil”.
In the Instagram videos, which has since garnered more than 170,000 views, the younger Chun also said his uncle, the former president’s third son Chun Jae-man, was running a winery in Napa Valley.
“A winery is a business area one cannot enter without astronomical amounts of money. It smells like black money,” he said.
To prove his identity, Chun also uploaded his driving licence, Korean resident registration papers and photos from his childhood with his grandfather.
He also disclosed documents showing that the former president’s children and grandchildren gave up their inheritance.
He added that his family is likely to claim that he is mentally ill.
Chun, who was born in 1996, said he had tried to take his own life to “get out of his sins and pain”.
He said he was diagnosed with depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in January 2022, but has received treatment.
Chun also disclosed the names, photos and profiles of the Instagram accounts of his acquaintances, claiming that they did drugs or committed sex crimes.
Some of his posts have since been deleted.
Chun Jae-yong told Chosun that he wishes to apologise to his son’s acquaintances who were mentioned on Instagram.
Former president Chun Doo-hwan served from 1980 to 1988, and was an army general and military dictator who was sentenced to death for his role in the 1980 Gwangju massacre that killed hundreds.
He was eventually pardoned.
The court ordered him to pay 220.5 billion won (US$170 million) upon his bribery conviction, but he left 95.6 billion won unpaid.
He was criticised for saying he only had 290,000 won, even as he was seen playing golf with his aides frequently.
