Park Chung-hee

Park Chung Hee (Korean: 박정희, pronounced [pak̚ tɕ͈ʌ̹ŋʝi] ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961, and served as the third President of South Korea from 1962 until his assassination in 1979. His regime oversaw a period of intense economic growth and transformation, making Park one of the most consequential leaders in Korean history, although his legacy as a military dictator remains a bitter subject.

Before his presidency, Park was the second-highest-ranking officer in the South Korean army. His coup brought an end to the interim Second Republic of Korea. After serving for two years as chairman of the military junta, he was elected president in 1963, ushering in the Third Republic. A firm anti-communist, he continued to maintain close ties with the United States, which had maintained a large Army garrison in the country since the end of the Korean War. He supported American military involvement in Southeast Asia, and sent South Korean troops to fight in Vietnam soon after seizing power. Park began a series of economic reforms that eventually led to rapid and unprecedented economic growth and industrialization, a phenomenon that is now known as the Miracle on the Han River. This made South Korea one of the fastest growing economies of the 1960s and 1970s, albeit with costs to labor rights. This era also saw the formation of chaebols: family companies supported by the state similar to the Japanese zaibatsu. Examples of significant chaebols include Hyundai, LG, and Samsung.