1. Lee Soon-ja is the widow of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan.
17 Facts About Lee Soon-ja
2.
Lee Soon-ja was the first lady when Chun Doo-hwan was in office, from 1980 to 1988.
3.
Lee Soon-ja was born on March 24,1939, in Choshun, Manchukuo to Lee Gyu-dong and Lee Bong-nyeon.
4.
Lee Soon-ja is the second daughter of a family with three daughters and one son.
5.
Lee Soon-ja's father was from Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province, and is the descendant of Lee Jo-yeon, a scholar and writer during the Goryeo Dynasty.
6.
Lee Soon-ja was an officer within the Manchukuo Imperial Army.
7.
Lee Soon-ja's father was appointed as an officer in the South Korean Army and worked at the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy.
Related searches
Chun Doo-hwan 8.
Lee Soon-ja later completed a course at the School of Environment in Yonsei University.
9.
When Chun Doo-hwan became the 11th President of South Korea in 1980, after ruling the country as a de facto leader from 1979 to 1980, Lee Soon-ja became the First Lady of South Korea on 1 September 1980.
10.
Lee Soon-ja left her position as First Lady after the resignation of Chun Doo-hwan following the June Democracy Movement in 1988.
11.
On November 23,1988, Chun and Lee Soon-ja was forced to leave for the Baekdamsa Buddhist monastery, where they spent two years.
12.
Lee Soon-ja received 3 billion won annuity immediately after leaving office and 12 million won of goods every month as a means of pension.
13.
On May 11,2006, Lee Soon-ja was summoned by South Korea's Central Investigation Department on suspicion of managing about 13 billion won of illegal savings in May 2004.
14.
Lee Soon-ja later claimed that the 13 billion won was what she had saved after a hard time, but it was allegedly containing a lot of fraudulent funds and was paid as a total surcharge.
15.
In 2017, a public opinion survey showed that Lee Soon-ja was the worst first lady in South Korean history.
16.
Lee Soon-ja's statement was criticized by a number of South Korean political parties, with the exception of the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party.
17.
Lee Soon-ja's apology did not mention Chun's responsibility of the suppression of Gwangju Uprising in 1980.