Park Chunghee
Korean Name
Revised Romanization	Bak Jeong-hui
McCune-Reischauer	Pak Chŏng-hŭi
Hangul	박정희
Hanja	朴正熙

Park Chunghee (September 30, 1917 - October 26, 1979) was a President of South Korea.

Park Chunghee was born near Daegu, South Korea. Park graduated from the Japanese Manchurian military academy in 1944. Park led a military coup which overthrew the incumbent civilian government in 1961. Following pressure from the Kennedy administration, a civilian government was restored, with Park winning the election in 1963, and he served as the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th president of South Korea.

Although Park is generally credited as playing a pivotal role in the development of South Korea's economy by shifting its focus to export led industrialization, his authoritarian tendencies were unpopular. His rule saw the rise of the jaebeol, a family company system similar to the Japanese zaibatsu. These companies include Hyundai, LG, Samsung and others.

In 1965, he normalized diplomatic relations with Japan. This move was highly unpopular, causing widespread unrest as memories of World War II exploitation were still fresh in both Koreas. However by dropping the South Korean demand for war reparations and apologies in exchange for investment Park allowed Japanese capital to flow into the country.

After almost a decade in power since 1963 under a democratic system that saw Park just barely squeeze through a tight presidential election in 1971 against Kim Dae-jung, Park introduced the Yusin Constitution in 1972 that transformed his presidency into a legal dictatorship. This move alienated many segments of South Korean's population.

On August 15, 1974 a botched assassination attempt by North Korean agent Moon Seguang (문세광) claimed his wife Yuk Yeongsu's life instead. Park himself was assassinated on October 26, 1979 by Kim Jaekyu(김재규), the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and long-time friend.

See also

• History of South Korea
• Realpolitik
• List of Korea-related topics