Kang Young-hoon was appointed prime minister a year later in President Roh Tae-woo's first cabinet reshuffle.
12 Facts About Kang Young-hoon
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Kang Young-hoon was born in Shojo-gun, Heianhoku-do when Korea was under Japanese rule in 1922.
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Kang Young-hoon joined the National Defense Forces, a precursor to the Republic of Korea Army, shortly after his graduation from the Kenkoku University towards the end of World War II.
4.
Kang Young-hoon served as a division commander during the Korean War and a military attache in the Embassy of South Korea, Washington, DC in 1952 before becoming director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Ministry of National Defense in 1954.
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Kang Young-hoon was detained in Seodaemun Prison for his role against the coup.
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Kang Young-hoon returned to South Korea in 1976, taking up the post of graduate school dean at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
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Kang Young-hoon then served as the ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the Vatican.
8.
Kang Young-hoon was appointed prime minister by President Roh Tae-woo, who at the same time replaced 19 of 23 Cabinet members in a major shake up meant to separate himself from his disgraced predecessor, President Chun Doo-hwan.
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Kang Young-hoon was chosen, in part, because of his opposition to the Park Chung Hee-led coup of 1961.
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Kang Young-hoon went on to serve as president of the National Red Cross, an organization that played a major role in negotiations between South and North Korea, during a period where the north was suffering a dire famine.
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Kang Young-hoon subsequently served as chairman of the Sejong Institute, and as chairman of the United Nations Environment Programme, Korea Committee.
12.
Kang Young-hoon died on 10 May 2016 at the age of 93 of natural causes at the Seoul National University Hospital 20 days shortly before his 94th birthday.