Park Chung-hee, Yuk Young-soo and Park Geun-hye: Korean History Through Film
From The Assassin(s) to The President’s Last Bang — The Real Story Behind Three Important Korean Historical Figures
If you want to understand modern Korean history through movies, three names are particularly important:
Their family story is closely connected to some of the most dramatic events in modern Korean history.
Two Korean films, The Assassin(s) (2026) and The President’s Last Bang (2005), revisit two of those historical moments.
But these movies are not documentaries.
They use real historical events as the foundation while adding fictional characters, dialogue, dramatic situations and different cinematic interpretations.
That makes them fascinating—but it is also important for international viewers to distinguish historical fact from cinematic imagination.
π¬ 1. The Assassin(s): What Happened in 1974?
Hur Jin-ho's 2026 film The Assassin(s) takes the 1974 shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo as its central historical event.
The incident occurred on August 15, 1974, during South Korea's Liberation Day ceremony.
At the time, Park Chung-hee was president.
A gunman, Moon Se-gwang, opened fire during the ceremony. Yuk Young-soo was fatally wounded.
The official historical account identifies Moon Se-gwang as the attacker.
The new film, however, turns the event into a mystery thriller and explores questions surrounding the shots fired and the evidence recovered at the scene. Korean Film Biz Zone describes the film as a dramatic reconstruction that combines the historical event with imaginative elements.
This distinction is extremely important:
The film's questions are part of the movie's dramatic construction. They should not automatically be treated as newly established historical facts.
For an international viewer, this is perhaps the best way to approach the film.
π¨π©π§ 2. Who Were Park Chung-hee and Yuk Young-soo?
Park Chung-hee was one of the most influential and controversial figures in modern Korean history.
He came to power following the May 16, 1961 military coup and later became president through elections beginning in 1963.
During his rule, South Korea experienced rapid industrialization and economic growth.
At the same time, especially after the Yushin system was established in 1972, presidential power became highly concentrated and political freedoms were significantly restricted. Korean historical sources describe the Yushin Constitution as a system that greatly strengthened presidential authority.
This combination—economic development and authoritarian political rule—is one reason Park Chung-hee remains a deeply debated figure in Korea today.
His wife, Yuk Young-soo, was widely known as the First Lady of South Korea.
Her death in 1974 became one of the most traumatic events for the presidential family.
πΈ 3. Yuk Young-soo and the 1974 Shooting
Yuk Young-soo was born in 1925 and became First Lady after marrying Park Chung-hee.
Her public image was strongly associated with charity, social welfare and activities involving ordinary citizens.
On August 15, 1974, she attended the Liberation Day ceremony at the National Theater in Seoul.
During the event, Moon Se-gwang fired a gun.
Yuk Young-soo was struck and later died from her injuries.
Her death dramatically changed the Park family.
One of the most important people affected was her daughter:
Park Geun-hye.
π© 4. Who Is Park Geun-hye?
For international audiences, Park Geun-hye's life can seem almost like a historical drama itself.
She was the daughter of President Park Chung-hee and First Lady Yuk Young-soo.
In 1974, Park Geun-hye was a young woman studying at Sogang University.
After her mother's death, she returned to Korea from France and later took on public duties associated with the presidential family.
Then another tragedy occurred.
Five years later, in 1979, her father was assassinated.
So within five years, Park Geun-hye lost both of her parents through political violence:
1974 — Yuk Young-soo was shot and killed
1979 — Park Chung-hee was assassinated
This background later became an important part of the public story surrounding Park Geun-hye.
π¬ 5. The President's Last Bang: Korea in 1979
The second movie, The President's Last Bang (κ·Έλ κ·Έ μ¬λλ€), was directed by Im Sang-soo and released in 2005.
It focuses on the events of October 26, 1979, when Park Chung-hee was assassinated by Kim Jae-gyu, then director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). The Korean Film Council describes the film as a cynical black comedy about the event.
The film is very different from The Assassin(s).
The Assassin(s)
1974 → mystery → investigation → unanswered questions
The President's Last Bang
1979 → political power → assassination → black comedy
The two films therefore provide very different cinematic approaches to Korean history.
π₯ 6. What Really Happened on October 26, 1979?
On October 26, 1979, Park Chung-hee attended a dinner at a KCIA facility in Seoul.
During the gathering, KCIA Director Kim Jae-gyu shot Park Chung-hee and presidential security chief Cha Ji-cheol.
Park Chung-hee died that night.
His death brought the Yushin era to an end. Korean historical sources also connect the final period of his rule with growing political conflict and the Busan-Masan Democratic Protests.
Kim Jae-gyu later faced trial and was executed.
The motives behind the assassination have been extensively debated by historians, including questions involving political conflict, the government's response to protests and tensions within the leadership.
π 7. Why Was The President's Last Bang Controversial?
The movie was controversial because it used real historical figures and a real assassination but presented the story through black comedy and satire.
That approach was unusual for such a serious historical event.
The film also became involved in a legal controversy before its release.
Some documentary footage included in the film was ordered removed, and the Korean Film Council notes that the movie was released in Korea with scenes deleted.
The controversy raised a broader question:
How much artistic freedom should a filmmaker have when portraying real political figures and traumatic historical events?
This question is not unique to Korea.
Many countries have experienced similar debates when filmmakers dramatize political leaders, assassinations or national tragedies.
π₯ 8. Why Is The Assassin(s) Different?
The Assassin(s) takes another approach.
Rather than focusing mainly on the political personality of Park Chung-hee, it uses the 1974 shooting itself as a mystery.
According to Korean Film Biz Zone, the film revolves around the question of why six shots were fired at the scene while four bullets were recovered, and follows fictional characters investigating the missing rounds.
This creates a classic thriller structure:
An historical event
↓
Something appears unexplained
↓
Characters investigate
↓
The audience begins to question the official story
↓
Fact and fiction become part of the mystery
That is effective movie storytelling.
But again, the investigation shown in the movie should be understood as cinematic storytelling, not automatically as a new historical finding.
π¨π©π§π¦ 9. Three People Who Connect Two Movies
The simplest way to understand the story is to look at the three central figures.
π°π· Park Chung-hee
President of South Korea from 1963 until his assassination in 1979.
πΈ Yuk Young-soo
First Lady and wife of Park Chung-hee. She was killed during the 1974 Liberation Day shooting.
π© Park Geun-hye
Their daughter, who later entered politics and became South Korea's president.
These three people connect the two films and several decades of Korean history.
π 10. A Simple Korean History Timeline
For foreign visitors, this timeline makes the story much easier to understand.
1961
Park Chung-hee takes power following a military coup.
1963
Park becomes president through an election.
1972
The Yushin Constitution establishes a system with greatly strengthened presidential authority.
1974
Yuk Young-soo is fatally shot during the Liberation Day ceremony.
1979
Park Chung-hee is assassinated by KCIA Director Kim Jae-gyu.
1998
Park Geun-hye begins her career as a member of the National Assembly.
2013
Park Geun-hye becomes South Korea's president.
2016
The National Assembly votes to impeach President Park Geun-hye.
March 10, 2017
South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment and removes Park Geun-hye from office.
π️ 11. Park Geun-hye Becomes President
Decades after losing both parents, Park Geun-hye eventually returned to political life.
She became a member of the National Assembly and later became leader of the conservative Grand National Party, now associated with the People Power Party lineage.
In 2012, she won the presidential election and became South Korea's first woman president.
Her election was historically significant because she was also the daughter of a former president.
For international visitors, this is one of the unusual features of Korean political history:
A child who experienced the violent end of her parents' political era later became president herself.
⚖️ 12. What Happened to Park Geun-hye?
Park Geun-hye's presidency ended in a completely different kind of political crisis.
In late 2016, revelations concerning her relationship with Choi Soon-sil and the alleged use of presidential influence for private interests triggered widespread demonstrations and a parliamentary impeachment process.
The National Assembly passed the impeachment motion on December 9, 2016, with 234 votes in favor.
The Constitutional Court then reviewed the case.
On March 10, 2017, all eight sitting Constitutional Court justices voted to uphold the impeachment and remove Park Geun-hye from office. The Court stated that the violations of the Constitution and laws in the exercise of presidential duties were serious enough to justify removal.
For an international reader, it is important to understand that this was a separate historical event from the deaths of her parents.
Her mother's death in 1974 and her father's assassination in 1979 were part of her personal history.
The 2016–2017 impeachment concerned her own conduct while serving as president.
π°π· 13. Why Are These Stories Important to Korea?
These movies offer more than stories about three famous people.
They provide a window into Korea's complicated 20th-century history.
South Korea changed dramatically during this period:
Military rule → rapid industrialization → authoritarian government → political conflict → democratization → modern democracy
The Park family was present at several important points in this transformation.
That is why the family story continues to attract filmmakers, historians and audiences.
π¬ 14. Should Foreigners Watch These Two Movies?
If you are interested in Korean history, watching the two movies together can be especially interesting.
Start with The Assassin(s) to learn about the 1974 incident.
Then watch The President's Last Bang to see a very different cinematic interpretation of the 1979 assassination.
But remember:
Movies are not history textbooks.
They can recreate events, ask questions, combine characters, invent dialogue and change chronology for dramatic effect.
The best way to enjoy historical Korean movies is to ask two questions:
"What really happened?"
and
"What did the filmmaker change to tell the story?"
That makes the movie experience much more interesting.
π Final Thoughts: Three People, Two Movies, One Dramatic Era
The story of Park Chung-hee, Yuk Young-soo and Park Geun-hye connects several generations of Korean history.
Yuk Young-soo's death in 1974.
Park Chung-hee's assassination in 1979.
Park Geun-hye's rise into politics.
Her presidency beginning in 2013.
And her removal from office following the Constitutional Court's 2017 impeachment decision.
Meanwhile, Korean filmmakers have continued to revisit these events from different perspectives.
The Assassin(s) asks audiences to look closely at an unresolved historical incident through the language of a mystery thriller.
The President's Last Bang uses black comedy to portray the final hours of Park Chung-hee's presidency.
Neither movie should be treated as a complete historical record.
Instead, they can be viewed as two cinematic interpretations of Korea's difficult modern history.
For anyone interested in Korean politics, history, movies or the story behind today's South Korea, these films provide an intriguing place to start.
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