Assassination of Park Chung Hee
| Assassination of Park Chung Hee | |
|---|---|
Park Chung-hee in 1973 | |
| Location | Blue House, Seoul, South Korea |
| Date | October 26, 1979 |
| Weapons | Smith & Wesson Model 36 and Walther PPK |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Victims | Park Chung Hee, Cha Ji-chul, three bodyguards, and a presidential chauffeur |
| Perpetrators | Kim Jae-gyu, Park Heung-ju, Park Seon-ho, Yoo Seong-ok, Lee Ki-ju, Seo Young-jun, Kim Tae-won |
| Assailants | Kim Jae-gyu |
On October 26, 1979, Park Chung Hee, the third president of South Korea, was assassinated 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 the Korean peninsula in 605 years since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo. Kim Jae-gyu, the then director of the KCIA, was responsible for the assassination. Park was shot in the chest and the head, after which he 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.
There is a great deal of controversy surrounding Kim's motives; it remains uncertain whether the act was part of a planned coup d'état or was merely impulsive.