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Ex-president Chun Doo-hwan playing golf in 1999. (Hankyoreh archives)
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Ex-president continues to cite Alzheimer’s disease as reason for not appearing in court
While former South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan, 88, has refused to attend court hearings on the grounds that he suffers from Alzheimer’s, testimony has emerged that his cognitive ability is good enough for him to enjoy a game of golf while calculating the score in his head. Chun is on trial for defaming the late Catholic priest Cho Cheol-hyeon (also known as Cho Pius), who testified that government martial law troops fired on civilians from helicopters during the Gwangju Democratization Movement in May 1980. Chun calculates his own scores while playing “A caddie who joined Chun on the course said she’d nearly miscalculated the score but Chun had fortunately been keeping track of the score himself,” said a caddie, identified as “N,” who worked at “K” golf course in Gangwon Province until the end of Nov. 2018. N spoke with the Hankyoreh on Jan. 17. Another caddie, identified as “D,” who also worked at K golf course around the same time, had the following to say: “A golf course employee who played golf with Chun told me that Chun is very sharp and calculates his scores himself.” “The claim that he forgets things after a couple of minutes is ridiculous. Even caddies get the scores mixed up sometimes, and they’re making an effort to calculate them accurately. Being able to calculate your own score while you’re playing a round means you’ve got an extremely good memory,” D said. “I also heard from an employee at the golf course that Chun remembers all of his clubs. I don’t think he actually has Alzheimer’s.” Chun played golf at K golf course around the time he claimed he couldn’t attend a hearing in his criminal trial in Aug. 2018 because of his Alzheimer’s symptoms, and now eyewitnesses say they saw him and his wife Lee Sun-ja at the same golf course on Dec. 6, 2018. The caddies say that Chun makes monthly visits to K golf course. “When I asked golf course employees when Chun comes by, they told me it’s usually the first Thursday of the month,” N said. Dec. 6, when Chun was spotted playing golf there, was the first Thursday of the month. “On days that Chun drops by, an announcement is posted to the golf course’s group chatroom telling employees to look sharp and not wander around too much, so you can tell when he’s going to show up,” N said. “They don’t post that kind of announcement when other VIPs come by.” The caddies said they’d heard from other employees at K golf course that Chun was a regular there. “I heard this from the staff during training for new hires. They also told us we should be proud of that and said, ‘None of you are from Gwangju, are you?’” N said. “The employees seemed a little conceited about the fact that Chun comes to their golf course. They would even brag about it to famous people,” D said. Course employees give Chun the “presidential treatment” N said that the employees at the golf course gave Chun “presidential treatment”: “When Chun would come by, the staff would all bow their heads and say, ‘Good afternoon, Mr. President.’ Chun would go around with his hands behind his back, as if he were on top of the world.” “When Chun shows up, his car drives all the way into the building and stops right in front of the elevator. And when Chun comes down the elevator, a golf cart is right there waiting for him. The point of all this is to reduce his visibility outside,” D said. “Regardless of your political sentiments, Chun Doo-hwan did a lot of stuff that makes it impossible for an ordinary Korean to respect him. Given the mood in society and the public sentiment, I was shocked to see him being treated as a VIP,” D added. Sources even say that Chun brags about his good health. “Around August or September of last year, an employee at the golf course who was golfing with Chun apparently complimented him on his driving distance. Chun then told the employee that he gets up every morning and exercises his whole body for two hours, starting with wrist exercises in bed,” D said. “I never played with Chun myself because the golf course only sends out the most trustworthy veteran caddies with him. But on a few occasions I did see Chun playing with the team ahead of us or behind us. If he weren’t in good health, he would ride in the golf court, but Chun enjoys walking and even walked around on a par-5 hole. He’s physically healthy and full of energy. My father turned sixty this year, and the two men look pretty similar,” N said. Former Blue House Secretary Min Jeong-gi, who represents Chun, responded to the golf controversy as follows: “Alzheimer’s isn’t the kind of disease that makes you bedridden or gets you hospitalized. In terms of his daily routine and physical activity, Chun is perfectly normal.” By Yi Ju-been, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
