Park Chung-hee
President who seized power in a coup and drove South Korea's rapid industrialization.
Life
Manchukuo army officer
Park Chung-hee came from a poor peasant family in North Gyeongsang Province. He studied at a military academy of Manchukuo and served as a Manchukuo army officer attached to the Japanese Kwantung Army; during the Korean War he was a South Korean army officer.
May 16 coup
In 1961 he took power in the "May 16" military coup, and from 1963 he served as President. He pursued export-oriented industrialization, backed large conglomerates, built the Seoul–Busan Expressway, and in 1965 established diplomatic relations with Japan; South Korea's economy grew rapidly, in what is known as the "Miracle on the Han River." In 1972 he promulgated the "Yushin Constitution," imposing authoritarian rule and suppressing the opposition.
Miracle on the Han River
On October 26, 1979, he was shot dead at a banquet by Kim Jae-gyu, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.
Legacy
Park Chung-hee remains a polarizing figure in South Korea: on the one hand he drove the economic takeoff, on the other he was an authoritarian ruler who suppressed democracy.
Did you know? His daughter Park Geun-hye was later also elected president, and was impeached while in office.
Key dates
- 1961Staged a coup
- 1963Became President
- 1965South Korea and Japan establish diplomatic relations
- 1970Gyeongbu Expressway opens
- 1972Promulgates the Yushin Constitution
- 1979Assassinated