South Korea is retrying the undercover agent leader who assassinated Park Chung-hee via NewsFlicks

Two gunshots.

This is how Yoo Seok-sul starts recounting the night time of Friday, 26 October, 1979.

A former safety guard within the Korea Central Intelligence Company, or KCIA, because the South’s undercover agent department used to be identified, Yoo has many tales to inform. However that is possibly probably the most notorious.

He recalls the time – just about 19:40 – and the place he have been sitting – within the wreck room. He used to be resting after his shift guarding the doorway to the low-rise compound the place President Park Chung-hee entertained his maximum relied on lieutenants. They referred to as it the “secure area”.

In his 70s now, wiry with sharp eyes, Yoo speaks hesitantly to start with – nevertheless it comes again to him briefly. After the primary photographs, extra gunfire adopted, he says. The guards had been on prime alert however they waited out of doors for orders. The president’s safety element used to be within, along side the KCIA’s most sensible brokers.

Then Yoo’s boss, a KCIA officer who oversaw safety for the secure area, stepped out of doors. “He came around and requested me to bury one thing within the lawn.” It used to be two weapons, bullets and a couple of trainers. Flustered, Yoo adopted orders, he says.

He didn’t know who have been shot, and he did not ask.

“I by no means imagined that it used to be the president.”

The weapons Yoo buried had been used to assassinate Park Chung-hee, who had dominated South Korea for the former 18 years, longer than any president earlier than or since. The person who shot him used to be his long-time buddy Kim Jae-gyu, who ran the much-feared KCIA, a pillar of Park’s dictatorship.

That Friday shook South Korea, finishing Park Chung-hee’s stifling rule and ushering in every other decade beneath the army. Kim used to be carried out for rebel, along side 5 others.

Now, 46 years later, that night time is again within the highlight as a courtroom retries Kim Jae-gyu to resolve if his movements amounted to treason. He has remained a deeply polarising determine – some see him as a killer blinded via energy and ambition, others as a patriot who sacrificed himself to set South Korea at the trail to democracy. The president he killed is not any much less divisive, lauded for his nation’s financial upward push and reviled for his authoritarian rule.

Kim’s circle of relatives fought for the retrial, arguing that he can’t be remembered as a traitor. They are going to now have their day within the Seoul Prime Courtroom – hearings started on Wednesday – simply as impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol is going on trial for a similar price that despatched Kim to the gallows.

Yoon’s martial legislation order remaining December used to be short-lived nevertheless it threw up questions on South Korean democracy – and that can affect how the rustic sees a person who shot useless a dictator he claimed used to be getting ready to unleashing carnage.

Used to be Kim looking to clutch energy for himself or to spark a revolution, as he claimed in courtroom?

When information of the capturing broke within the morning, it despatched shockwaves thru South Korea. Preliminary studies referred to as it “unintentional”.

What used to be left of Park’s coterie attempted to make sense of what had came about. Kim have been an in depth best friend since Park seized energy in a coup in 1961. They shared a native land and had began out in combination on the army academy.

Veteran journalist Cho Gab-je recognizes that Kim gave the impression uncomfortable with a few of Park’s movements, however “there is no file that Kim in fact acted on the ones considerations, no proof he launched political prisoners, clashed with Park, or submitted formal objections”.

Kim instructed the courtroom he had thought of killing Park no less than 3 times. However historical past displays he supported Park as he tightened his grip, abolishing direct presidential elections and time period limits, permitting him to keep an eye on the Nationwide Meeting or even droop constitutional rights.

“My brother used to be by no means the type of one who would dedicate such an act simply to develop into president,” insists his sister Kim Jung-sook, who’s now 86.

However he ran the KCIA, which used to be infamous for jailing, torturing or even framing blameless scholars, dissidents and opposition figures with false fees.

“They tortured folks, fabricated fees, and imprisoned them… and for those who criticised that, you’ll get arrested too,” says Father Ham Se-woong, who used to be imprisoned two times within the Nineteen Seventies for criticising the federal government.

Kim used to be no longer a saviour many may settle for. However that’s the mantle he took on, in keeping with courtroom transcripts that weren’t extensively reported on the time. He instructed the judges he believed it used to be crucial to forestall Park, whose ruthlessness may plunge South Korea into chaos and value them a important best friend, the US.

“I don’t want to beg for my existence, as I’ve discovered a purpose to die for,” he stated, despite the fact that he requested the courtroom to spare his males who adopted his orders – “blameless sheep”, he referred to as them. He stated he had was hoping to pave the best way for a relaxed transition of energy, which had eluded his nation thus far.

On listening to about this again then, even a fierce critic like Father Ham attempted launching a marketing campaign for him. “He sought after to forestall additional bloodshed. That is why we needed to save him,” he says.

Father Ham ended up in jail once more for his efforts, because the trial changed into a delicate matter. The rustic used to be beneath martial legislation. Days after the trial began – on December 12 – the person who led the investigation into the assassination, Basic Chun Doo-hwan, seized energy in a coup.

Lawsuits within the army courtroom moved at lightning pace. On 20 December, it convicted Kim of looking to clutch energy thru homicide, and 6 others of helping him. Yoo used to be sentenced to 3 years in jail for hiding the weapons.

Via 20 Might the next 12 months, Kim had misplaced his ultimate enchantment. 4 days later he used to be hanged, along side 4 others. One used to be spared and every other have been carried out previous. Kim died as the military brutally suppressed a pro-democracy rebellion, killing 166 civilians within the town of Gwangju.

“I were given the influence that Chun Doo-hwan used to be looking to briefly wrap up anything else associated with the former regime with a view to clutch energy for himself,” says Kim Jung-sook.

She says she noticed her brother simply as soon as thru all this, per week earlier than he used to be carried out: “I believe he sensed it may well be the remaining time. So he bowed deeply to my mom as a good-bye.”

Yoo survived however he says after he used to be loose, he used to be adopted for years: “I could not get a task. Even if I returned to my native land, they stored tailing me. I could not say a phrase concerning the case.” He now works as an attendant in a personal automobile parking space out of doors Seoul.

Ms Kim says her circle of relatives didn’t talk up till about 10 years in the past. After South Korea changed into a democracy, Park’s symbol recovered, stepped forward via time and wealth. His daughter changed into president, steadily protecting his legacy for its financial file.

It used to be her downfall – following huge protests over a corruption scandal – that threw open the door to revisit Kim Jae-gyu’s conviction.

“This example will have to by no means have long gone to an army courtroom since the assassination came about earlier than martial legislation used to be declared,” says Lee Sang-hee, the attorney answerable for his retrial. She provides that the “sloppy transcripts” would have influenced his enchantment since the defence used to be no longer allowed to file the complaints.

“After I reviewed the paperwork, I could not know the way he might be convicted of rebel when there used to be such little proof. And above all, there used to be torture,” she says, which the courtroom cited as a sound reason why when it agreed in February to a retrial.

It permitted Kim’s remark, which he submitted in his unsuccessful enchantment in 1980, alleging “the investigators beat me indiscriminately and used electrical torture via wrapping an EE8 telephone line round my hands”.

Stories on the time alleged that Kim Jae-gyu’s spouse have been detained and tortured too, along side her brother-in-law and brothers, which officers on the time denied.

Now in her 90s, his spouse has all the time been adversarial to a retrial.

“She by no means mentioned what she had long gone thru and trembles even now,” Kim Jung-sook, the undercover agent leader’s sister, says.

Ms Kim is resolute in her defence of her brother, time and again emphasising that “he used to be a person of integrity”.

“As a result of we imagine that he didn’t kill the president and his safety leader for private achieve, we’ve got been in a position to bear all of this.”

The safety leader used to be Cha Ji-cheol, who have been rising nearer to Park, and steadily clashed with Kim as the 2 males vied for the president’s ear.

Within the weeks earlier than the assassination, they differed on the best way to handle Kim Younger-sam, an outspoken opposition chief who Park noticed as a danger. In an interview with the New York Instances, the opposition chief had referred to as on america to finish Park’s dictatorship. The Nationwide Meeting, managed via Park, expelled him.

The verdict kicked off massive protests in Kim Younger-Sam’s strongholds. Cha sought after to weigh down the rebellion, whilst Kim Jae-gyu recommended warning, which might additionally reassure a Washington that used to be rising impatient with Park’s rule.

Kim instructed the courtroom he warned towards firing at protesters, which might most effective ignite anger – to which Cha stated, “3 million died in Cambodia, and not anything came about. If we kill a million demonstrators, we will be superb”.

That night on the secure area, the general public broadcaster reported that america ambassador used to be going to fulfill Kim Younger-sam.

An indignant Park criticised Kim Jae-gyu for no longer arresting the opposition chief. When Kim driven again, the courtroom heard, Park retorted: “The company will have to be feared, it will have to prosecute those that deserve it.”

They sat throughout from every different, sipping Scotch and sharing a meal. Park sat between two girls, a well-liked singer and a tender type. Cha and Park’s leader of body of workers had been additionally there.

The terse exchanges endured, and mid-way thru a love music, Kim Jae-gyu stated, he pulled out the gun, aimed it at Park and instructed him he had to trade his politics: “Sir, you will have to manner issues with a extra magnanimous imaginative and prescient.”

Turning to a surprised Cha, he cursed as he pulled the cause, wounding him within the hand as Cha attempted to dam the shot. Then Kim fired into Park’s chest. Outdoor, performing on his orders, KCIA brokers shot useless the president’s safety element – two had been consuming dinner, and two had been on standby.

Kim attempted capturing the president once more, however the pistol malfunctioned. He ran out to considered one of his males, who gave him a revolver. Having returned, he killed a fleeing Cha, walked against Park, who used to be leaning towards the type as he bled, and shot him within the head.

The 2 girls left unhurt after being paid to stay quiet. The president’s leader of body of workers used to be by no means centered.

Kim then went to the following construction, the place the military leader he had summoned previous used to be ready. The boys left in a automotive for KCIA headquarters.

It is most probably he did not argue with Kim – even a shoe-less, suspiciously rattled Kim used to be robust, and his males guarded the compound. However en path he used to be persuaded to visit the military’s headquarters, the place he used to be arrested quickly after nighttime.

Kim instructed the courtroom he had deliberate to make use of the military, possibly even impose martial legislation, to finish the “revolution” and transition to democracy.

That is the crux of the retrial. The prosecution had argued it used to be a premeditated coup, whilst Kim claimed a ways loftier motives.

However sceptics level to the loss of making plans. The gun that jammed used to be plucked from a secure earlier than dinner, there have been sufficient witnesses to derail the plot, and he didn’t appear to have a technique for his “revolution”. He didn’t even make it to the KCIA headquarters.

They are saying it’ll neatly had been an impulsive act of revenge via a person whose energy used to be waning.

That is what the military common investigating the murders alleged two days later – Kim, 2d most effective to the president, had such a lot to lose as Park sidelined him in favour of Cha Ji-cheol.

The next month, he additionally charged Kim with making an attempt a coup.

“For a price of rebel to be proved, the accused should forcibly halt the serve as of constitutional establishments, however that did not occur on this case,” says attorney Lee Sang-hee.

In contrast to in impeached president Yoon’s case – the place the courtroom will make a decision if he directed the army to dam parliamentary complaints – there is not any proof Kim Jae-gyu attempted to clutch keep an eye on of state establishments, she argues.

For South Korea although, the retrial is greater than that. Many see it as a defining second to replicate at the trajectory of a democracy threatened simply six months in the past.

Additionally it is a chance to reconsider Park Chung-hee, whose legacy some say is overstated. “His achievements had been actual, however so had been his faults,” says Kim Duol, an economics professor at Myungji College. “Would South Korea’s expansion had been imaginable with out such an authoritarian regime?”

Kim’s circle of relatives hopes his retrial will shed a kinder mild on his legacy. Killing Park used to be “a painful choice”, Kim had instructed the courtroom, however he had “shot on the middle of Yusin [the regime] with the center of a wild beast”.

Is that sufficient to make the previous undercover agent leader a hero? That may be a query the courtroom can not resolution.