January 12, 1996
Web posted at: 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT)
From Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-ae
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea's former President Chun Doo-hwan was indicted Friday for the second time in as many months.
This time prosecutors charged that the ex-president amassed about $900 million during his 1980-88 presidency. Nearly $300 million was allegedly accepted in the form of bribes from 42 South Korean business leaders.
The amount is larger than the roughly $630 million Chun's successor, Roh Tae-woo, garnered for his political slush fund.
Prosecutors also charged five senior aides Friday with helping Chun collect his millions.
The 42 businessmen who allegedly gave Chun money make up a virtual Who's Who of South Korean business community, including Chung Ju-young, the founder and former chairman of the Hyundai group, and the late Lee Byung-chull of the Samsung Group.
Prosecutors said the bribes were made in exchange for lucrative contracts and tax favors.
Chun is already in custody. He was arrested in December and charged with masterminding a 1979 military coup which brought him to power. The ex-general is in the hospital recovering from a hunger strike to protest what he called political retaliation.
Ex-president Roh also faces charges of accepting more than $300 million in bribes and is scheduled for his second court appearance next week.
Both Roh and Chun were military strongmen during the 1979 coup. They are considered responsible for ordering a brutal crackdown of a civilian uprising in the city of Kwangju in 1980 in which hundreds of people died.
With the indictment, prosecutors have ensured that both ex-presidents will stand trial and advanced the country's efforts to correct its past.
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