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SEOUL, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The United States is returning $1.1 million in illicit assets to South Korea, after seizing property from the son of a former South Korean president and military dictator. "The return of these assets is a powerful vindication of the rule of law and an important victory for the people of the Republic of Korea," U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in a statement released Tuesday.
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Chun Doo-hwan, 84, who took power in a 1979 military coup and declared martial law, had accumulated at least $229 million in illegal funds through bribes involving South Korea's leading corporations in the 1980s. At the time of his trial in 1996, Chun said he had less than $300 in his possession.
Chun ruled South Korea with an iron fist and was ultimately responsible for the government crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju, where at least 600 people died in May 1980.
The U.S.-based assets were connected to Chun's son, Chun Jae Yong, who had made investments in a home in Newport Beach, Calif., and in a Pennsylvania company. He had admitted to Korean prosecutors the funds were originally from his father. Prosecutors believe the remainder of Chun's loot could have been laundered through other family members.
South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh reported the deadline for the full recovery of Chun's illegal assets had been extended to 2020, after a law on the recovery of Chun's funds was passed in October 2013.
The assets, however, are a challenge to recuperate. One of Chun's real-estate assets known as "Herb Village" outside Seoul was initially valued at $216 million, but could actually be worth $86.5 million due to a fall in real estate prices in the area, and when costs of maintenance and taxes are deducted.
In 1997, Chun's total assets were valued at $191 million, and 50.8 percent of that total amount has been recovered so far, according to a Seoul prosecutor who spoke to Hankyoreh on the condition of anonymity.
