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.
Official portrait, c. 1963–1979
Park's childhood home. Park was born in the sarangchae depicted here. He slept and studied here (except while away in secondary school) until 1937. (2015)
Military exercises at Taegu in the 1930s (from a 1939 graduation album)
Park's high school graduation photo in 1937
The May 16 military coup d'état was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung Hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong after the latter's acquiescence on the day of the coup. The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Chang Myon and President Yun Posun, and ended the Second Republic, installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as chairman after General Chang's arrest in July.
Image: 5.16 Coup Park Chung hee
Image: Marines march on Government Building Seoul 1962 05 17
Image: 전두환, 5.16 군사 정변 지지 시위
The April Revolution
