SEOUL — Roh Tae-woo, South Korea’s last military-backed president who forged ties with Communist foes, tolerated the country’s rambunctious transition from dictatorship to democracy but ended up in jail for mutiny and corruption, died on Tuesday. He was 88.
Mr. Roh died in an intensive care unit at Seoul National University Hospital, the hospital said, providing no further details.
Mr. Roh, president from 1988 to 1993, led South Korea through a tumultuous period as a transitional, and largely unpopular, figure between military and civilian rule.
“He was a bridge between authoritarianism and democracy,” said Lee Chung-hee, a professor emeritus at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.