⁄ • The Decline and Rebirth of Hwang Won TaekWhile the / incident led to the purge of the top army leadership, it also
produced a sharp turn in the careers of numerous midlevel officers. One
such person was my friend Col. Hwang Won Taek. Colonel Hwang was an
extremely competent officer, having finished at or near the top of his class
at the KMA. His prospects in the military were exceptionally bright until /
, for he had been promoted well ahead of his contemporaries on a regu-
lar basis. In fact, he had been selected as the senior assistant to General
Chung and was serving in that capacity on /. When Chung was ar-
rested that night, Hwang was not present at the chief of staff’s quarters but
was in radio contact. When alerted that something serious was transpiring
at the quarters, Hwang immediately returned, but his entry to the com-
pound was blocked by forces loyal to Chun Doo Hwan (which, incidentally,
were commanded by another good friend, Col. Kim Jin Young—see chapter
). Hwang was unable to reach his boss, who was arrested and imprisoned
but eventually released.
Following this incident, Colonel Hwang’s career took a pronounced
downward turn. Not trusted by the emerging powers in the army, and per-
haps feared by Chun Doo Hwan and his supporters because of his popularity
among the younger KMA classes, Hwang was assigned to an unimportant
staff position at Second ROK Army headquarters in the southern area of
Taegu, far from Seoul and any front-line command, a backwater for ambi-
tious officers. His security clearance was also suspended, and he was in limbo
for several years. Eventually Hwang was restored to a job working with the
combined American-Korean forces but was passed over for troop command,
the key to promotion in the Korean Army. His only offense had been loyalty
to his boss.
With great frustration Colonel Hwang watched his less-talented peers pass
him by for promotion, although he eventually attained the rank of briga-
dier general. Near his mandatory retirement date, he was selected for major
general and served with distinction as the first Korean officer to head the
Military Armistice Commission, the organization that negotiates and resolves
military problems and issues with the North Koreans at Panmunjom.
This would be an interesting but not particularly significant story except
that, following the election of Kim Young Sam to the presidency and Hwang’s
retirement from the army, he was “resurrected” and named ambassador to
Panama. Although this was a relatively obscure posting, it was nonetheless a
recognition of his talents and a tacit admission that his previous treatment had