Her Story
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Looking at magnolias with her parents
“Not one parent, but both of my parents were shot and killed. I could only resent that brutal reality.”
From her autobiography entitled Steeled by Despair, Motivated by Hope
In August 1974 Park Geun-hye received an urgent message to return to Korea at once. She packed and hurried to the airport, as she passed a newsstand, the headline of one of the papers caught her eye and she froze on the spot.
‘First Lady Madam Park, Assassinated’
Above the photo of her mother, Park Geun-hye read the word, “Assassinated.” This was how Park Geun-hye first learned of her mother’s tragic death. Later she recalled, “The pain I felt that very moment was as if a sharp knife had been plunged deep into my heart.”
Five years later, on October 26 1979, her father President Park Chung-hee was assassinated.
Park Geun-hye received the news in the early hours of the morning on October 27. Her first words were, “Is everything alright on the border?” Her father’s death was not just a personal loss, it was also a national crisis that could tip the balance at the Demilitarized Zone at any minute.
She loses both her parents to gunfire
Looking at magnolias with her parents
In August 1974 Park Geun-hye received an urgent message to return to Korea at once. She packed and hurried to the airport, as she passed a newsstand, the headline of one of the papers caught her eye and she froze on the spot.
‘First Lady Madam Park, Assassinated’
Above the photo of her mother, Park Geun-hye read the word, “Assassinated.” This was how Park Geun-hye first learned of her mother’s tragic death. Later she recalled, “The pain I felt that very moment was as if a sharp knife had been plunged deep into my heart.”
Five years later, on October 26 1979, her father President Park Chung-hee was assassinated.
Park Geun-hye received the news in the early hours of the morning on October 27. Her first words were, “Is everything alright on the border?” Her father’s death was not just a personal loss, it was also a national crisis that could tip the balance at the Demilitarized Zone at any minute.