S. KOREA GIVES FORMER LEADER DEATH PENALTY.

Byline: Paul Shin Associated Press 

Former military strongman Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death earlier today after being convicted of mutiny and treason in South Korea's trial of the century. His successor, Roh Tae-woo, was also found guilty and received 22-1/2 years in prison.

A three-judge panel found the two ex-presidents guilty of staging a coup 17 years ago, then causing hundreds of deaths in a violent crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising six months later.

Chun's death sentence is subject to automatic appeal. Roh's attorneys were also expected to appeal his sentence.

Even if Chun's death sentence is upheld by the country's highest court, execution is rare in South Korea, and it is unlikely the sentence would be carried out.

The trial, which opened in December, is seen as South Korea's attempt to come to terms with its bloody and militaristic past. The country was ruled by successive military generals until President Kim Young-sam took power in 1992 and began sweeping reforms to eradicate their legacy.

The prosecution had demanded that Chun be sentenced to death and Roh to life imprisonment. Chun and Roh ruled South Korea in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

The two also were found guilty of amassing hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal political funds during their terms. Chun was fined $270 million and Roh $350 million.

Thirteen other ex-generals were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 4 to 10 years for their roles in the government takeover and subsequent crackdown in the southern city of Kwangju. One former general, Park Jun-byung, was acquitted.

The trial pitted the two former presidents against prosecutors under Kim, the nation's first civilian president in 32 years.

Chun, helped by Roh, a childhood friend and later military buddy, seized power in a coup in 1979, the event that brought the mutiny charges. The treason charges stemmed from what came to be known as the ``Kwangju massacre,'' a pro-democracy uprising six months later that left hundreds of people dead or injured.

Chun became president in 1980 and was succeeded by Roh in 1988.

Both have claimed their indictments were a ``political circus'' by the president to boost his sagging popularity. The court allowed six TV cameramen and photographers to cover the opening of the session, but not the actual reading of the verdicts and the sentencing.

In drizzling rain, 30 protesters demonstrated outside the court, guarded by 600 riot police. Bodyguards were assigned to the three-judge panel. South Korea does not have a jury system.