One of such arguments point to Reporting the fact that it occurred Coming_to_be before Chun Doo-hwan officially took Conquering office , and so contend Statement that it could not really have been a simple student protest Attack against him that started Process_start it ; however , Chun Doo-hwan had become Becoming the `` de facto '' leader of South Korea at that time since coming Self_motion into power on December 12 , 1979 , after leading a successful military coup of the previous South Korean government .

One of such arguments point to Reporting the fact that it occurred Coming_to_be before Chun Doo-hwan officially took Conquering office , and so contend Statement that it could not really have been a simple student protest Attack against him that started Process_start it ; however , Chun Doo-hwan had become Becoming the `` de facto '' leader of South Korea at that time since coming Self_motion into power on December 12 , 1979 , after leading a successful military coup of the previous South Korean government .

During Chun Doo-hwan 's presidency , the authorities defined Statement the incident as a rebellion instigated by Communist sympathizers and rioters .