Chun Doo-hwan, the former U.S.-backed military dictator of South Korea, has died at the age of 90. General Chun seized power through a coup in 1979. A year later, he ordered a brutal attack on a pro-democracy uprising in Kwangju, with estimates of the death toll ranging from 500 to over 2,000 people. At the time, then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter backed the violent crackdown on the pro-democracy protesters. Korean activists are demanding the U.S. acknowledge its role in Chun’s rise to power and the cruelty of his regime.