Chun Doo-hwan’s Go-Go Dancing Daughter
by Richardson ~ October 12th, 2007. Filed under: History, Korean Politics.Recently I was discussing Korea with a retired Air Force colonel who had been stationed there for several years over his long career. His first tour was in 1977 (though he was out of the country when Pak Chung-hee was assassinated and during Kwangju Sat’ae), and he was again stationed at Osan Air Base in 1983, where one of his acquaintances dated Chun Hyo-sun (전효선), the daughter of then ROK President Chun Doo-hwan (전두환). Not only that, but that she was something of a rebel; in addition to dating an American GI (an NCO who as also African-American), she often danced at a club in Songtan, which just outside the gate of Osan AB! The colonel recalls that she was a pretty good dancer.
The president’s wife, Lee Soon Ja (이순자) would sometimes appear at the club, with the obligatory group of bodyguards, and try to (unsuccessfully) persuade her daughter to leave. Chun Hyo-sun, who used an alias, was notably different than the other bar girls in her selectiveness in who she associated with, that she didn’t pressure anyone to buy her drinks (had plenty of her own money), and that she was more refined and distant than the rest.
Initial searches haven’t turned up anything about this, and very little concerning Chun Hyo-sun at all. A bit of the Chun family tree:
Take this story how you will; it’s unverified and could have been a bargirl’s tall tale, though it was generally accepted by those there that it was in fact Lee Soon Ja who came to argue with her daughter on occasion. Also, the press in those days didn’t report that sort of thing. It is true? Who knows, but the colonel believes it is.
October 12th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I do not know why this should be a big deal. After all, reporters are still hammering at the what-did-Israel-hit scenarios. Interesting story all the same, and it sounds plausible…
October 12th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
It’s not an international-level story, but a quarter century ago for the president’s daughter to date a) and American and b) a non-white foreigner at that, aside from dancing in a club - sort of a big deal.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
[…] DPRK Studies has an interesting posting about how former Korean Dictator President Chun Doo-hwan’s daughter Chun Hyo-sun was possibly a juicy girl active in the club seen at Osan Airbase in the 1980’s. I did a web search on Chun Doo-hwan’s daughter to see if I can confirm this at all. […]
October 13th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Sounds like an urban myth to me. It’s possible that Chun’s daughter was wild and rebellious but inconceivable that the First Lady herself would enter a juicy bar to fetch her daughter. A more plausible action from a Korean woman of her stature and generation would be to send a squad of body guards to drag her daughter by the hair and drive her back home for a vigorous beating. The body guards would then pay a visit to the home of the juicy bar owner and ‘thank’ him for taking such good care of the First Daughter. I’m so incredulous I’m not even going to bother checking Snopes.
October 13th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Yeah, if this is true then she was quite the rebel. I wish you knew her alias because I’m wondering if I knew her