SOUTH KOREAN former President Roh Tae-woo, 88, died Tuesday, a Seoul National University Hospital official said, without citing the cause of death.

Roh had been in poor health since 2002 when he received surgery for prostate cancer and he was repeatedly hospitalized in recent years.

As the original driving force behind the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Roh helped South Korea forge a new international identity.

He also ushered the country into the United Nations in 1991.

During his tenure from 1988 to 1993, China and South Korea established diplomatic relations, and he also paid a state visit to China in September 1992.

Through his “Northern Diplomacy” policy, South Korea has also normalized diplomatic relations with countries and regions such as the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries.

He was educated first at the Korean Military Academy in Seoul and later attended a psychological warfare course at Fort Bragg in the U.S. state of North Carolina.

When former strong man Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979, Roh supported his former military classmate Chun Doo-hwan in a military coup.

Ahead of the presidential elections in 1987, Roh issued the “June 29 Declaration,” announcing significant political reforms including the direct election of the president.

Two weeks before he left the Blue House, he was voted the worst politician in South Korea in a public survey.

Just a few years later he was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison for his role in the 1979 coup and the 1980 Gwangju army massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, as well as massive corruption.

He was pardoned and freed from jail in 1997.

(SD-Agencies)