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 Korea in 606 years, since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo. 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.

Park Chung Hee was a South Korean politician and army general. After seizing power in the May 16 coup of 1961, he was elected as the third President of South Korea in 1963. He ruled the country until his assassination in 1979. He is regarded as one of the most consequential leaders in Korean history, although his legacy as a military dictator continues to cause controversy.