Rangoon bombing

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The 1983 Rangoon bombing was an assassination attempt against then-South Korean President, Chun Doo Hwan.^[1]

On October 9, 1983, President Chun Doo Hwan was on an official visit to Rangoon (now called Yangon), the capital of Burma (now known as Myanmar). During the visit, he planned to lay a wreath at the Martyr’s Mausoleum in that city, to commemorate Aung San, who founded the independent Burma and was assassinated in 1947.^[2]

As some of the President’s staff began assembling at the Mausoleum, one of three bombs concealed in the roof of the memorial exploded. The huge blast ripped through the crowd below, killing 21 people and wounding 46.^[2] Among the dead were the Korean foreign minister, Lee Bum Suk, the economic planning minister and deputy prime minister, Suh Suk Joo, and the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Kim Dong Whie.^{[citation needed]} The rest of those killed were presidential advisers, journalists, and security officials, most of them South Korean; however, four Burmese nationals were also among the dead. President Chun was saved because his car had been delayed in traffic and was just minutes from arriving at the memorial. The bomb was reportedly detonated early because the presidential bugle which signalled Chun's arrival mistakenly rang out a few minutes early.^[2]

Police identified three suspects, an army major and two captains. One was shot to death two days after the bombing; Kang and another tried to commit suicide by hand-grenade that same day, but survived, although Kang lost an arm. Kang Min-chul was the only one to confess his mission and his links to North Korea, an action by which he was able to avoid a death sentence and instead received life imprisonment; his colleague was executed by hanging.^[2] North Korea denied any links to Kang, who was sent to the infamous prison at Insein, north of Yangon.^[1]

As of 2007, Kang was Myanmar's longest-serving foreign prisoner; he had learned to speak the Burmese language fluently, according to one of his fellow prisoners. Yangon's moves towards resuming relations with North Korea led to speculation about what would happen to Kang; because North Korea denies that he is a citizen, he may be considered a stateless person. Kang himself reportedly does not want to go either to North Korea, which he believes considers him a traitor, or to South Korea, which may try him for his role in the assassination attempt. In 2006, Chyng Hyung-Keun, a member of South Korea's Grand National Party and a former employee of South Korean intelligence, sponsored a bill to bring Kang to South Korea.^[1]

In 1994 the representative of South Korea to the United Nations General Assembly linked this incident with the downing of Korean Air Flight 858 which he alleged was sponsored by the same government acting with impunity.^[3]