Former defense minister dead at 83

The late former defense minister set a record as the first from the Air force to become Joint Chief of Staff in 1993 during the Kim Young-sam administration. He died May 28 at the age of 83. Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

Lee Yang-ho, who served as minister of national defense during the Kim Young-sam administration, died of natural causes on May 28. He was 83.

Born in North Chungcheong Province in 1937, he joined the Air Force Academy in 1960 and served in key Air Force posts. He is known for being named as the Air Force's first head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in May 1993.

The rare appointment was due to his role in purging a large number of generals from "Hanahoe," a private military organization, during the Kim administration, which sought reforms in various sectors after years of authoritarian rule.

Lee served in other key posts in the Air Force, such as Air Force operations commander in 1989 and Air Force chief of staff in 1992.

He was also only the third defense minister from the Air Force. Defense ministers had usually been selected from the Army. He served as defense minister from December 1994 through October 1996.

During his tenure as chief of staff, Lee made efforts to build a "future-oriented air force" and showed commitment to modernizing the flight education system by introducing T-50 advanced flight education trainers.

As joint chief of staff, he is also credited with laying the ground work for the transfer of wartime operational control after successfully regaining peacetime operational control in December 1994.

Lee won several government medals for his contributions in the Air Force.

He is survived by two daughters and will be laid to rest on Saturday at a family burial site in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

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