Choi Hyung-woo, Close Aide to Former President Kim Young-sam, Dies
Choi Hyung-woo, former interior minister and a close aide to former President Kim Young-sam who was also a pro-democracy activist, died at 3:30 a.m. on the 24th. He was 91. The deceased led the April 19 Revolution and the June 3 Resistance, endured torture during the dictatorship era, and after serving six terms in the National Assembly and as interior minister, battled illness for nearly 30 years.
Born on October 15, 1935, in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province, he served as a student representative at Dongguk University and stood up against the Rhee Syngman government during the April 19 Revolution in 1960, and against the Park Chung-hee regime during the June 3 Resistance in 1964. First elected to the 8th National Assembly in 1971 as a member of the opposition New Democratic Party, he went on to serve in the 9th through 15th assemblies, spending decades in politics as a six-term lawmaker.
He was repeatedly detained and persecuted during the dictatorship. In 1972, as a first-term lawmaker, just after the October Yushin declaration, he was taken into custody by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency along with other opposition lawmakers and endured torture. In May 1980, after Chun Doo-hwan's new military regime took power, he was hauled to the Defense Security Command and lost his parliamentary seat. When political restrictions were lifted in 1984, he became secretary-general of the Committee for the Promotion of Democracy and devoted himself to the democracy movement.
Along with former Minister of State Kim Dong-young, he was regarded as one of Kim Young-sam's two top lieutenants, earning the nickname "Kim on the left, Choi on the right." After the 1990 three-party merger, he joined the Democratic Liberal Party and became minister of state, then served as interior minister after the launch of the Kim Young-sam government. However, he collapsed from a stroke in 1997 while being mentioned as a potential presidential contender, left politics, and battled poor health for nearly 30 years afterward.
Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, are serving as co-chairs of the funeral committee, and politicians from the era of the "Two Kims" (Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung), including Kwon No-gap and Kim Deok-ryong, are also on the list of committee members. After visiting the funeral hall on the 25th, Representative Kim said, "(The deceased) worked hard to carry on the spirit of the Buma Uprising and the May 18 movement." Representative Jang said, "(The deceased) made great efforts to democratize politics. In honor of his wishes, we in politics today will strive to do better."
He is survived by his wife Won Young-il, daughter Eun-ji, and son Seok-kyun, among others. The funeral hall has been set up at the Samsung Medical Center funeral home in Gangnam District, Seoul, with the burial procession scheduled for 7 a.m. on the 27th. He will be interred at the National April 19 Democracy Cemetery.
