Inside North Korea’s plot to assassinate South Korean leader with explosives | NK News
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September 27, 2026Sep 27, 2026

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Inside North Korea’s plot to assassinate South Korean leader with explosives

Retired ROK Lt. Gen. Chun In-bum tells NK News about his experiences of deadly DPRK bombing in Burma 40 years ago

Forty years ago today, North Korea attempted to assassinate then-South Korean leader Chun Doo-hwan during a trip to Burma. However, the assassins killed several of Chun’s top cabinet members and other officials instead.

“There was no fireball. It was like huge earth exploding upwards,” retired ROK Lt. Gen. Chun In-bum, who narrowly escaped the blast that day, told NK News.

On Oct. 9, 1983, Chun Doo-hwan and his entourage were scheduled to kick off an 18-day tour to Asia and the Pacific by laying a wreath at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Yangon, the Burmese capital. The mausoleum commemorated Aung