Park Chung Hee
Park Chung Hee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In office 1963 (chairman of the SCNR and de facto president 1961-63) – 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Yun Poson |
| Succeeded by | Choe Gyuha |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 30, 1917 Gumi, North Gyeongsang |
| Died | October 26, 1979 Seoul |
| Political party | Democratic Republican Party |
| Spouse | Yuk Yeongsu |
Template:Koreanname Park Chung Hee was the president of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He has been credited with the modernization of South Korea through export-led growth, but also criticized for human rights abuses during his extended presidency. He was named one of the top 100 Asians of the Century by Time Magazine (1999)
Early Life
Park was born on September 30, 1917 in Seonsan, a small town in Gumi City, North Gyeongsang province near Daegu. Park Chung Hee was the seventh child of a poor family. His father was Park Seong-bin (age 46 at the time) and his mother was Paik Nam-hee (age 45). His eldest brother was Park Dong-hee (age 22); second brother was Park Moo-hee (age 19); eldest sister was Park Kwi-hee (age 15); third brother was Park Sang-hee (age 11); fourth brother was Park Han-saeng (age 7); and his youngest sister was Park Jae-hee (age 5). His two eldest brothers and elder sister were already married when he was born.
His father sometimes served as a magistrate under the Japanese occupation.
Park, like many other Koreans of the time, had a Japanese name (Takaki Masao); but unlike many Koreans who were forced to take on Japanese names, Park's adoption of a Japanese name was voluntary. He then felt that the name was not Japanese enough, he adopted a real Japanese name, Okamoto Minoru.
When Park Chung Hee was fourteen years old and a senior at Kumi Primary School, his youngest sister Park Jai-hee, then eighteen, married Han Jeong-bong in Sangjoo.
Park won admission to Daegu Teacher's College through a competitive examination. He entered on April 8, 1932 and graduated on March 25, 1937, after five years of study. During his formative years, which coincided with the Japanese invasion of China, starting with the Manchurian incident in 1931 and culminating in all-out war in 1937.
He went on to teach for several years in Mungyeong, where the school has been preserved as a museum.
==Military Career== tierney and morgan r gay
Park Chung Hee won admission to a two-year training program in Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. He graduated at the top of his class from the Japanese Manchurian military academy in 1944. He then was selected for another two years of training at the Tokyo Military Academy. His experience with the Japanese government's program of economic development in Manchukuo strongly affected his thinking when he became president of South Korea.
Park had served the Kwangtung Army, part of the Imperial Japanese Army, in Manchuria, fighting Mao's Chinese Communist forces. Although the Kwangtung Army also carried out actions against Korean guerrillas, it is not clear whether Park actually fought against Korean forces.
In the aftermath of Japan's defeat in World War II, Park joined leftists in the American occupation zone, which later became South Korea. Park partook in a rebellion led by units of the new American-supported army and was sentenced to death by the local Korean authorities. Park escaped death by striking a deal in which he offered up the names of his leftist comrades to the anti-communist southern Korean authorities.
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Ascension to presidency
Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea, was forced out of office on April 26, 1960 as an aftermath of the April 19 Movement, a student-led uprising. A brief period of civilian rule was established beginning August 13, 1960 under President Yun Poson. This was a short-lived period of parliamentary rule in South Korea with a figurehead presidency, a response to the authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Rhee administration. The prime minister at the time was Chang Myon (August 19, 1960 – May 18, 1961).
Both Yun and Chang did not possess strong leadership qualities nor could they command the respect of the majority of the party elite. They could not agree on the composition of the cabinet and Chang attempted to hold the tenuous coalition together by reshuffling cabinet positions three times within a five-month period.
In the meantime, the tasks confronting the new government were daunting. It was caught between an economy that was suffering from a decade of mismanagement and corruption by the Rhee presidency and the students who had led to the toppling of the Rhee presidency and thus to whom the goverment owed its power. The army and police needed to be purged of the political appointees who had buttressed the dictatorship. The students were filling the streets almost daily, making numerous wide-ranging demands for political and economic reforms. Law and order could not be maintained because the police, long an instrument of the Rhee government, were demoralized and totally discredited by the public. Continued factional wrangling caused the public to turn away from the party.
Seizing the moment, then-Colonel Park Chung Hee led a largely bloodless military coup on May 16, 1961, a coup largely welcomed by a general populace exhausted by political chaos. Although Premier Chang Myon resisted the coup efforts, President Yun Po-son sided with the junta and persuaded the United States Eighth Army and the commanders of various South Korean army units not to interfere with the new rulers.
The Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) was created on June 19, 1961 to prevent a countercoup and to suppress all potential enemies. It was to have not only investigative power, but also the power to arrest and detain anyone suspected of wrongdoing or harboring antijunta sentiments. The KCIA extended its power to economic and foreign affairs under its first director, Colonel (retired) Kim Chong-pil, a relative of Park Chung Hee's, and one of the original planners of the coup against Chang Myon.
While Yun Poson remained in office, he was powerless following the 1960 coup; however he stayed on briefly to provide legitimacy to the regime, but resigned on March 22, 1962. Park Chung Hee was the real power as chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction. Following pressure from the Kennedy administration in the United States, a civilian government was restored, with Park Chung Hee winning the 1963 election as the candidate of the Democratic Republican Party over Yun Poson.
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First term of presidency
Economic reform
Park is generally credited as playing a pivotal role in the development of South Korea's economy by shifting its focus to export-oriented industrialization. When he came to power in 1961, South Korean per capita income was only USD 72, and North Korea was regarded as the greater economic and military power on the peninsula. During Park's tenure, per capita income increased twentyfold, and South Korea's rural, undeveloped economy had transformed into an industrial powerhouse. Even Kim Daejung, one of Park's most prominent opponents during his rule, has retrospectively praised him for his role in creating the modern-day South Korea. [1]
The strength of Park's leadership was evidenced by the remarkable development of industries and rise in the standard of living of average South Korean citizens during his presidency. Many still question Park's judgement, however, as his 1965 normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan had been extremely unpopular and resulted in widespread unrest as memories from Japan's 35-year brutal colonization of Korea proved vivid. However, by normalizing relations with Japan, Park allowed Japanese capital to flow into the country. These aids and loans -- although criticized by many Koreans to be too meager for the 36 years of occupation by Imperial Japan -- along with American aids helped to restore the depleted capital of South Korea. Nonetheless, it must be noted that with North Korea's economy at the time being bigger and more vibrant than that of South Korea, Park did not have many options or much time to negotiate for more fitting reparations and apologies; this still plagues Japan and Korea's relationship today.
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Second term of presidency
Park Chung Hee barely squeezed to reelection in 1967 against Yun Poson.
Third term of presidency
In 1971 Park Chung Hee narrowly was reelected over Kim Dae-jung. Just after his second reelection, Park declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution.
Yusin Constitution
In 1972, he introduced the Yusin Constitution, which dramatically increased his power and made him a virtual dictator. Following the Constitution's passage, Park's regime grew markedly more repressive, with the KCIA becoming well-known for detaining and torturing opposition leaders. Park was reelected to seven-year terms in 1972 and 1978, but voting was indirect and controlled by the incumbent administration.
New Village Movement
Assassination attempts
On August 15, 1974 a botched assassination attempt by North Korean agent Mun Segwang (문세광, 文世光) claimed his wife Yuk Yeongsu's life instead.
In 1979, President Park was gunned down on October 26, 1979 by Kim Jaegyu, the director of the KCIA and a long-time friend. Kim Jaegyu did so in the name of patriotism that Park was an obstacle to democracy which remains to be controversial. This appeared to be a passion-play and subsequent accident by the individual, not as a part of conspiracy or coup.
Legacy
Controversies
It is alleged by supporters that despite his dictatorial rule and the high growth that occurred during his years in power, Park did not engage in corruption and led a simple life. Detractors allege he was simply a brutal dictator and only brought about high growth through military control over labour.
A controversial movie was released in South Korea in 2005 called The President's Last Bang, which is highly critical of Park. Among other things, it highlights his dictatorial policies, and stories of drinking and womanizing. Perhaps most controversial, it is alleged he sometimes preferred to speak Japanese instead of Korean and displayed pro-Japanese sentiments. Another film released the previous year, The President's Barber, portrayed him as aloof and largely unconcerned with the human rights violations committed by his regime, at one point directing that a group of doctors be rounded up and accused of working for North Korea.
Being a complex man as a policy maker, a good portion of Koreans continue to hold Park in high regard in great part due to the industrial and economic growth experienced under his presidency. But there are also many who condemn Park for the brutality of his dictatorship and for his service to the Japanese army during World War II. Today, Park's biggest critics deplore the widespread human rights abuses seen in South Korea during his rule. Arbitrary arrests without warrants and evidence and oftentimes based merely on hearsay and suspicion of communist activity resulted in many civilians undergoing torture and even death.
Park's reputation has been the subject of further debate in South Korea as a list with approximately 3,000 names of Koreans who collaborated with Japan was published earlier in 2005. The list includes Park's name.
See also
External link
- BBC News' "On this day": a recollection of Park's assassination.