Park Chung-hee
1917 – 1979 South Korean army general, president, dictator
The general who seized power in South Korea and drove its industrialization under authoritarian rule.
- Religion
- Buddhist background; secular in practice
- Affiliations
- South Korean military; Democratic Republican Party
Park Chung-hee took power in South Korea through a 1961 military coup and ruled until 1979. He oversaw rapid, state-directed industrialization while suppressing dissent, especially under the Yushin system after 1972. Backed by the United States during the Cold War, he was assassinated by his own intelligence chief in 1979.
In the timeline
- 1961 Park Chung-hee's military rule in South Korea central figure