Assassination of Park Chung Hee
| Assassination of Park Chung Hee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Gungjeong-dong, Seoul, South Korea |
| Date | October 26, 1979 7:40 p.m. (KST) |
| Weapons | Smith & Wesson Model 36 and Walther PPK |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Victims | Park Chung Hee, Cha Ji-chul, three bodyguards including An Jae-song, 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 26 October 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 on the Korean peninsula in 605 years since the assassination of King 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. The head of the presidential security service, three bodyguards and a presidential chauffeur were also killed by Kim and his co-conspirators. 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. Discontent with Park's regime had been simmering below the surface and had culminated with the Busan–Masan Uprising ten days before the assassination, which Park had brutally suppressed.