For Want of a Bullet
A Darker Korea
Korean President Narrowly Avoids Death
Reports from Seoul suggest that President Park Chung Hee of South Korea narrowly avoided assassination Friday evening. Intelligence director Kim Chae Gyu, now deceased, is believed to have been behind the attempt...
Reuters report, 29 October 1979
… It is impossible to conjecture the consequences that [Park’s] untimely death would have had. Park of course was no democrat, not in the way that Americans might expect, but he was a capable leader, and there was no one who could replace him. If he had died in 1979, or even in 1974, South Korea would likely never have recovered. In all likelihood, Park’s assassination would have triggered a Northern invasion.A Darker Korea
Park Chung-hee
President of the Republic of Korea, 1963-1996
President of the Republic of Korea, 1963-1996
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The dinner had proceeded for some hours, but Kim had hardly spoken. He watched with quiet anticipation as the discussion progressed, first casual pleasantries, later—inevitably—a discussion of the situation the government found itself in. It was a situation that was difficult to ignore. Riots were spreading across the south, and Kim himself had visited the scene just days ago. Not merely students now, but ordinary people, everyday citizens had united in the protests against the President's regime. But they didn't believe him.
Least of all that bastard Cha. The security chief was busy casting another sour glance in Kim's direction as the President spoke.
"I wanted Kim Young Sam arrested, Director—this won't do. What is the problem exactly? We are enforcing the law. Don't the Americans punish lawbreakers?"
Cha laughed. "I don't know what the KCIA is doing these days, Mr. President."
Park fixed the Director with a steely gaze, smiling mirthlessly. "The KCIA should be fearsome, Director. What are you doing? Always compiling reports. Arrest them."
Cha leaned forward in his chair, nodding. "I know all about these troublemakers, Mr. President..."
Kim had heard enough. The knot in his stomach was overpowering—he barely listened to Cha's words.
He had prepared for this for weeks now.
Standing up, he pulled out a gun. The room fell silent. Park watched him steadily.
"Mr. President, how can your policy be correct when scum like this are advising you?" He pressed the trigger, and fired the gun—
Or—
Cha rose to his feet. "Come now, Director Kim. The Chief Secretary already informed me of your stupid plans. Mr. President, allow me—"
Trembling, he pressed the trigger again, but heard only a click. The President still held him in his gaze—his mouth curled faintly into a smirk. The beast would live...
Least of all that bastard Cha. The security chief was busy casting another sour glance in Kim's direction as the President spoke.
"I wanted Kim Young Sam arrested, Director—this won't do. What is the problem exactly? We are enforcing the law. Don't the Americans punish lawbreakers?"
Cha laughed. "I don't know what the KCIA is doing these days, Mr. President."
Park fixed the Director with a steely gaze, smiling mirthlessly. "The KCIA should be fearsome, Director. What are you doing? Always compiling reports. Arrest them."
Cha leaned forward in his chair, nodding. "I know all about these troublemakers, Mr. President..."
Kim had heard enough. The knot in his stomach was overpowering—he barely listened to Cha's words.
He had prepared for this for weeks now.
Standing up, he pulled out a gun. The room fell silent. Park watched him steadily.
"Mr. President, how can your policy be correct when scum like this are advising you?" He pressed the trigger, and fired the gun—
Or—
Cha rose to his feet. "Come now, Director Kim. The Chief Secretary already informed me of your stupid plans. Mr. President, allow me—"
Trembling, he pressed the trigger again, but heard only a click. The President still held him in his gaze—his mouth curled faintly into a smirk. The beast would live...
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Korean President Narrowly Avoids Death
Reuters report, 29 October 1979
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Gen. Wickham, J. A. (2000) Korea Redeemed: Looking Back at a Crisis. Potomac Books.
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Enacted by Pak Chŏnghŭi (Park Chung-hee) following the attempt on life on 26 October 1979 (see October 26 Incident). Dissuaded by Chief Secretary Kim Kyewŏn from outright dissolution of the KCIA, Pak appointed Defense Security Command chief Maj. Gen. Chŏn Tuhwan (Chun Doo-hwan) to the agency’s directorship, charging him with organising and executing a systematic purge of politically unreliable state officials. Twenty-three opposition lawmakers were simultaneously arrested as “opponents of the constitution”, a crime specified by the Emergency Decree of 13 May 1975. As the purge proceeded, protests in the south of the country intensified, and at the recommendation of Chŏn and Presidential Security Director Ch’a Chich’ŏl, Pak issued an order on November 1 authorising military action against the protestors in the south-east. This order led to the purge’s climax in the Pusan Massacre.
OCTOBER 26 INCIDENT Sibiryuk sagŏn 十二六事件
The attempt by KCIA Director Kim Chaegyu to assassinate South Korean President Pak Chŏnghŭi (Park Chung-hee) on 26 October 1979. Though reports of the incident are obscure, it is understood that after attempting but failing to kill Pak, Kim was shot twice and killed by Presidential Security Director Ch’a Chich’ŏl. A posthumous trial adjudged Kim a traitor and symbolically sentenced him to death. Some activists believed that the incident was staged and that Kim was assassinated to remove a potential threat: in any case, the event caused a transformation in the regime’s policies, leading to the events that characterised the Anti-Corruption Purge.
See also: Blue House Raid; August 15 Incident; Pusan Massacre
Pratt, K. (ed) (1999) Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. London: Routledge.
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Park: I think my father was very distraught by the incident. It showed him that there were few people that he could trust.
Interviewer: But he already suspected the Director—his assassin—didn’t he?
Park: Yes. But Kim did not act alone, we know that. He could not have acted alone.
Interviewer: Does that justify your father’s later actions?
Park: You must understand the pressure the government was under at the time, from the rebellions and the corrupt officials. My father did what was best for the time—this was always his great strength.
CNN interview with Park Geun-hye, 12 September 2002.
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KCIA: Korean Central Intelligence Agency, primary secret police and intelligence agency of South Korea.
NDP: New Democratic Party, the (mostly neutered) parliamentary opposition.
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