Former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan, who brutally crushed pro-democracy protests in the country after he took power in a 1979 military coup sparked, died on Tuesday. He was 90. Emergency officials said Chun died at his home. Police earlier said Chun suffered a cardiac arrest and emergency officials rushed to his Seoul residence. A former military commander, Chun presided over the 1980 Gwangju army massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, a crime for which he was later convicted and received a commuted death sentence. Chun had multiple myeloma, and his health had deteriorated recently, his former press secretary Min Chung-ki told reporters. He died early Tuesday morning. His death came about a month after another former President and his coup comrade Roh Tae-woo, who played a crucial but controversial role in the country"s troubled transition to democracy, died at age 88. An aloof, ramrod-straight Chun during his mid-1990s trial defended the coup as necessary to save the nation from a political crisis and denied sending troops into Gwangju. "I am sure that I would take the same action, if the same situation arose," Chun told the court. Chun was born on March 6, 1931, in Yulgok-myeon, a poor farming town in the southeastern county of Hapcheon, during Japanese rule over Korea. He joined the military straight out of high school, working his way up the ranks until he was appointed a commander in 1979. Taking charge of the investigation into the assassination of President Park Chung-hee that year, Chun courted key military allies and gained control of South Korea"s intelligence agencies to headline a December 12 coup. "In front of the most powerful organizations under the Park Chung-hee presidency, it surprised me how easily (Chun) gained control over them and how skilfully he took advantage of the circumstances. In an instant he seemed to have grown into a giant," Park Jun-kwang, Chun"s subordinate during the coup later told journalist Cho Gab-je. Chun"s eight-year rule in the presidential Blue House was characterized by brutality and political repression. It was, however, also marked by growing economic prosperity. Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed and tens of thousands were imprisoned during Chun"s presidency in the 1980s, but he allowed some liberalization after years of authoritarian rule. Under public pressure, he allowed the first direct and free election in the nation"s history. Chun resigned from office amid a nationwide student-led democratic movement in 1987 demanding a direct electoral system. In 1995, he was charged with mutiny, treason and was arrested after refusing to appear at the prosecutors" office and fleeing to his hometown. At what local media dubbed the "trial of the century", he and coup co-conspirator and succeeding President Roh Tae-Woo were found guilty of mutiny, treason and bribery. In their verdict, judges said Chun"s rise to power came "through illegal means which inflicted enormous damage on the people." Roh was given a lengthy jail term while Chun was sentenced to death. However, that was commuted by the Seoul High Court in recognition of Chun"s role in the fast-paced economic development of the Asian "Tiger" economy and the peaceful transfer of the presidency to Roh in 1988. Both men were pardoned and freed from jail in 1997 by President Kim Young-sam, in what he called an effort to promote "national unity." Chun made several returns to the spotlight. He caused a national furore in 2003 when he claimed total assets of 291,000 won ($245) of cash, two dogs and some home appliances -- while owing some 220.5 billion won in fines. His four children and other relatives were later found to own large swaths of land in Seoul and luxurious villas in the United States. Chun"s family in 2013 vowed to pay off the bulk of his debt, but his unpaid fines still totaled some 100 billion won as of December 2020. In 2020, Chun was found guilty and received an eight-month suspended sentence for defaming a late democracy activist and Catholic priest in his 2017 memoirs. Prosecutors have appealed, and Chun had faced a trial next week. — Agencies