Meanings
Hanahoe1
- A surname from Irish.
Hanahoe2
- historicaluncountableA secret society within the Republic of Korea Army led by Chun Doo-hwan from 1963 to 1993, which overthrew the Fourth Republic and was heavily involved in politics of the Fifth Republic of Korea.
To answer that question, we need to consider Hanahoe, as Chun’s clique was called, as well as Chun’s position at the head of the DSC.
2023 November 30, Kwon Hyuk-chul, “How Chun Doo-hwan seized power in a coup — and why it’s unlikely to happen now”, in The Hankyoreh3 more examples
Kim also reshaped civil-military relations. He chose an army chief of staff who was known to be without political aspirations and was not from the elite Hanahoe faction of the Korean Military Academy, whose members had intruded on politics in the past
1997, Sunhyuk Kim, “State and Civil Society in South Korea's Democratic Consolidation: Is the Battle Really over?”, in Asian Survey, volume 37, number 12, page 1141Like most businesses, in the army promotions are based on performance. Those in the military who fall short of expectations or have bad track records eventually fail to rise in the ranks. But Mr. Shin apparently failed because he was a member of Hanahoe, a secret brotherhood that all but ran the army’s officer corps for 20 years.
2003 April 2, Brian Lee, “The Inner Circle”, in Korea JoongAng DailyPark sponsored a select group of Korea Military Academy graduates called the Hanahoe (‘Group One’) to become his personal praetorian guard within the military.
2022 October 25, Insoo Kim, David Kuehn, “The Ministry of National Defence in South Korea: Military dominance despite civilian supremacy?”, in Journal of Strategic Studies, volume 45, numbers 6-7, page 867
Origin
- Korean하나회
- EnglishHanahoe
Borrowed from Korean 하나회 (Hanahoe).
More words from Korean
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 一心會 /一心会
- 一心會 /一心会 (Yīxīnhuì)secret society in South Korea
Japanese ハナフェ
- ハナフェsecret society in South Korea
Korean 하나회, 신군부
- 하나회 (Hanahoe)secret society in South Korea
- 신군부 (Sin'gunbu)secret society in South Korea
Cite this entry
Hanahoe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanahoe
“Hanahoe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanahoe. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hanahoe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanahoe.
Source: Hanahoe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.