Mun Se-gwang | |
---|---|
Born | 26 December 1951 |
Died | 20 December 1974 22) | (aged
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Criminal status | Executed |
Conviction(s) | Murder |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Details | |
Victims |
|
Date | 15 August 1974 |
Mun Se-gwang | |
Hangul | 문세광 |
---|---|
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Mun Se-gwang |
McCune–Reischauer | Mun Segwang |
Mun Se-gwang (26 December 1951 –20 December 1974) was a Japanese-born North Korean sympathizer who attempted to assassinate South Korean president Park Chung Hee on 15 August 1974. The assassination attempt resulted in the deaths of Park's wife,Yuk Young-soo,and a high school student,Jang Bong-hwa.
Mun Se-gwang was born to an ethnic Korean family in Osaka,Japan on 26 December 1951. His family had fled from North Korea to Japan shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War.
While in high school,he began actively studying the biographies of Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung,and became a supporter of far-left beliefs. For several years,he began communicating with supporters of Juche within the Korean community and fell under the influence of several North Korean agents,who eventually convinced him the need to eliminate President of the Republic of Korea Park Chung Hee in order to raise a 'popular uprising' in South Korea.
In November 1973,Mun Se-gwang finally decided to assassinate Park Chung Hee and,was paid 500,000 yen to prepare and implement his plan. In May 1974,he received a fake Japanese passport in the name of 'Yuki Kawagami'.
Stealing a Smith &Wesson .38-caliber revolver from an Osaka police box on 18 July 1974,he concealed it in his luggage and flew to South Korea on 8 August 1974, [1] using a Japanese passport to enter the country. [2] He then booked into the Chosun Hotel. [1]
Gaining entry to the National Theater in Seoul,on the day of a ceremony celebrating Korea's independence from Japan which was being attended by South Korean president Park Chung Hee and his wife,Mun intended to shoot Park in the theater lobby. However,his view was obstructed;and,he was forced to enter and be seated near the back of the theater. During Park's address,he attempted to get closer to the President but inadvertently fired his revolver prematurely,injuring himself. Having alerted security,Mun then ran down the theater aisle firing wildly. [3] His second bullet hit the left side of the podium from which Park was delivering his speech. His third bullet was a misfire but the fourth struck Park's wife,Yuk Young-soo,in the head,seriously wounding her. His last bullet went through a flag decorating the rear of the stage. A bullet fired by Park Jong-gyu ,one of the President's security detail,in response to Mun's attack ricocheted off a wall and killed a high school student,Jang Bong-hwa. Immediately following the capture of Mun,Park resumed his scheduled speech,despite the wounding of his wife and her being carried from the stage. Following its completion,he picked up his wife's handbag and shoes and left. Despite extensive surgery,Yuk died at 7:00 p.m. that same day. [1]
During his interrogation,Mun confessed to have been aided in his bid to assassinate President Park by an official of a North Korea aligned residents association in Japan. This,and the fact that Mun used a Japanese passport to enter South Korea,strained diplomatic relationships between Japan,North Korea,and South Korea;South Korea concluded that Mun was acting on behalf of North Korea,but Japan refused to accept South Korea's position. Consequently,Park threatened to break off diplomatic relations and to nationalise Japanese assets in South Korea. It required mediation by United States embassy officials before Japan issued a letter of regret,easing tensions between the two countries. [3]
At the same time,North Korean officials made a statement that they were not involved in the assassination attempt on President Park,but they approved of it,calling Moon Se-gwang a "real communist."[ This quote needs a citation ]
At the trial,Mun Se-gwang also expressed regret that he had failed to kill President Park,and that an innocent schoolgirl had died because of his actions. On 17 December 1974,he was found guilty of the attempted assassination of President Park Chung Hee resulting in deaths of two people and sentenced to death. Four months after his failed attempt to assassinate President Park,Mun was executed by hanging in a Seoul prison. [3]
The National Liberation Day of Korea is a public holiday celebrated annually on 15 August in both South and North Korea. It commemorates the day when Korea was liberated from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule.
The President's Last Bang: is a 2005 satirical black comedy film by South Korean director Im Sang-soo about the events leading to and the aftermath of the assassination of Park Chung Hee, then the South Korean President, by his close friend and Korean Intelligence Agency director Kim Jae-kyu.
Sim Min-kyung is a South Korean singer known professionally as Sim Soo-bong. When she was a senior at Myongji University, she debuted in 1978 through MBC College Song Contest at which she performed her self-composed song "Geuddae Geu Saram". She was one of the witnesses of the 1979 assassination of South Korean president Park Chung-hee.
Bravo, My Life, also known as Mommy, Dearest, is a 2005 South Korean film directed by Park Heung-sik about an adolescent boy who starts to come of age in the late 70s and early 80s, largely oblivious to the dramatic political events occurring around him. The film sold 406,526 tickets nationwide.
Yuk Young-soo was the wife of the 3rd South Korean president Park Chung Hee and the mother of the 11th South Korean president Park Geun-hye. She was killed in 1974 during an attempted assassination of her husband.
Park Chung Hee, the third President of South Korea, was assassinated on October 26, 1979, during a dinner at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safe house inside the Blue House presidential compound in Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. It was the first assassination of a head of state in Korea in 606 years since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo. Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the KCIA and the president's security chief, was responsible for the assassination. Park was shot in the chest and the head, and 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.
Parliamentary elections were held in North Korea on 25 August 1948 to elect the members of the 1st Supreme People's Assembly. Organised by the People's Committee of North Korea, the elections saw 572 deputies elected, of which 212 were from North Korea and 360 from South Korea.
The first lady of the Republic of Korea, commonly known as the first lady of South Korea, is the title held by the hostess of the presidential residence, usually the wife of the president of South Korea.
Jeong Seung-hwa was a South Korean general officer, and the 22nd Republic of Korea Army Chief of Staff. He was present at the Blue House presidential compound, site of the assassination of President Park Chung-hee, when it took place on 26 October 1979.
5th Republic is a 2005 South Korean drama television series that aired on MBC from April 23 to September 1, 2005, on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:40 (KST) for 41 episodes. It takes place during the 1981–1988 Fifth Republic of South Korea under the dictatorship of President Chun Doo-hwan. It follows his rise to power through a military coup to his downfall after a series of democratic movements, including the Gwangju uprising and the June Democratic Uprising.
Foxy Festival is a 2010 South Korean film with an all-star ensemble cast. It is a character-driven comedy of manners about the discreet sexual lives of a group of interconnected people in an upper-middle class district of Seoul.
Events from the year 1979 in South Korea.
Events from the year 1974 in South Korea.
Park Chung Hee was a South Korean politician and army general. After seizing power in the May 16 coup of 1961, he was then elected as the third President of South Korea in 1963. He ruled the country until his assassination in 1979. He is regarded as one of the most consequential leaders in Korean history, although his legacy as a military dictator continues to cause controversy.
Events from the year 1969 in South Korea.
Happy Home is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Kim Yeong-cheol, Won Mi-kyung, Kim So-yeon, Lee Sang-woo and Lee Pil-mo. It aired on MBC every Saturdays to Sundays at 20:45 (KST) for 51 episodes from February 27 to August 21, 2016.
Choi Tae-min was the leader of the Church of Eternal Life, a South Korean cult combining elements of Buddhism, Christianity, and traditional Korean Shamanism. Choi, originally a Buddhist monk, then a convert to Presbyterian pastor, was married six times. He was the mentor of the impeached South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, until his death in 1994. He allegedly used his relationship with Park to solicit bribes from government officials and businessmen. In late 2016, a scandal involving his daughter, Choi Soon-sil, broke out, with allegations that she too has exerted undue influence over President Park.
The Dawn of the Empire is a South Korean historical television series which aired on KBS1 from March 2, 2002 to January 26, 2003 for 94 episodes every weekend at 21:45 (KST). It's KBS' second histocal series set in Goryeo after Taejo Wang Geon and revolves around the reigns of the second, third and fourth king of Goryeo, particularly on the latter, Gwangjong's.
The 1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing was a terrorist bombing of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Tokyo, Japan on 30 August 1974, killing eight people and injuring at least 376 others. The bombing was committed by the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, a radical far-left anti-Japanese organization, against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for supplying the United States against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.