SEOUL () -- South Korea's former president Chun Doo Hwan denied charges of mutiny during the country's trial of the century Monday while protesters demanded he get the maximum death penalty.


Chun sat next to his successor Roh Tae-woo to answer charges stemming from a 1979 military coup which brought him to power for eight years.


"No," said Chun when asked by prosecutors if the elite military group he then headed had planned to seize control of the armed forces by arresting then-army chief of staff Chung Sung-hwa.


Among other charges, Chun is accused of playing a leading role in the arrest of Chung without approval from then-President Choi Kyu-hah.