The government has virtually completed its collection of criminal penalties levied on late former President Chun Doo-hwan decades ago over bribery proceeds as a court trial over his last seizable asset ended recently, judicial officials said Thursday.

Chun, a former Army general who seized power in a 1979 military coup and served as president from 1980 to 1988, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to forfeit more than 220 billion won (US$168 million) for amassing slush funds. He died at the age of 90 in 2021.

So far, Chun’s assets worth 128.2 billion won have been returned to the state coffers, and the last seizable asset — three plots of land worth 5.5 billion won (US$4.2 million) in Osan, 44 kilometers south of Seoul — was involved in litigation started by a property trust company, which was entrusted by the Chun family to manage the property.

But the seizure of the Osan property is expected to be implemented soon, as the trust company lost its lawsuit on Dec. 30, the officials said.

They said th
e remaining penalties, amounting to 86.7 billion won, cannot be collected unless there is retroactive legislation.

Source: Yonhap News Agency