Park Chung-hee was killed on October 26, 1979, at a safe house in Seoul, where the head of the KCIA, Kim Jae-gyu, pulled a gun during a late dinner. The president had ruled since a 1961 coup, and the two men had clashed over how hard to press dissent. The shot ended eighteen years.
The backdrop was tense. A police crackdown in the city of Pusan had met weeks of protest, the worst since Park took power, and the economy was slowing after years of fast growth. Kim later said he acted to save the country from dictatorship, though others saw a personal feud. The truth is still argued. The dinner began as a routine meal between old rivals.
Park's record cut both ways. He drove breakneck industry that turned South Korea from a poor farm society into a factory exporter, yet he crushed opposition, censored the press, and kept secret police in every corner of life. The "Miracle on the Han" came with a price. Many Koreans lived in fear.
The aftermath brought no calm. Army chief Chun Doo-hwan seized power in December, and a harsh new dictatorship followed until the late 1980s. Park's daughter later became president. The dinner in 1979 still marks the hinge of modern Korean history. His statue later drew crowds again in a changed Seoul.