Assassination of Park Chung Hee

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Assassination of Park Chung Hee
Park Chung-hee in 1973.
Location	Blue House, Seoul, South Korea
Date	October 26, 1979; 45 years ago (1979-10-26)
Weapons	Smith & Wesson Model 36 and Walther PPK
Deaths	6
Victims	Park Chung Hee, Cha Ji-chul [ko], three bodyguards, and a presidential chauffeur
Perpetrators	Kim Jae-gyu, Park Heung-ju [ko], Park Seon-ho, Yoo Seong-ok, Lee Ki-ju, Seo Young-jun, Kim Tae-won
Assailants	Kim Jae-gyu

Park Chung Hee, the third President of South Korea, was assassinated on October 26, 1979, during a dinner at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safe house near the Blue House presidential compound in Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. It was the first assassination of a head of state in South Korea and in Korea in 605 years, since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo.^[1] Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the KCIA and the president's security chief, was responsible for the assassination. Park was shot in the chest and the head, and died almost immediately. Four bodyguards and a presidential chauffeur were also killed. The incident is often referred to as "10.26" or the "10.26 incident" in South Korea.^[2]

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding Kim's motives, as it remains uncertain whether the act was part of a planned coup d'état or was merely impulsive.