Korea: Future President of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Park Chung Hee, is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General by President Yun Bo-seon (right), shortly after the 16 May 1961 military coup led by Park. Seoul, 11 April, 1961

Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.

Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.

In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.

Yoon Bo-seon (August 26, 1897 – July 18, 1990) was a Korean independence activist and politician, who served as the second President of South Korea from 1960 to 1962 before being replaced by the Park Chung-hee as a result of the May 16 coup in 1961.

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