Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979: Development, Political Thought, Democracy, and Cultural Influence

Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979: Development, Political Thought, Democracy, and Cultural Influence

PART ONE—Development

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Heavy and Chemical Industrialization, 1973–
1979: South Korea’s Homeland Security Measures
HYUNG-A KIM
The goals of developing an “independent economy” (charip kyŏngje) in the
1960s and an “independent defense” (chaju kukpang) in the 1970s were at
the core of the political economy of the Park Chung Hee (Pak Chŏnghŭi)
era. These two phases of South Korea’s development are explained
predominantly in terms of the impact of the cold war, particularly the
change in U.S. foreign policy in the Northeast Asian region that led to the
historic East-West détente when U.S. President Richard Nixon visited
China in February 1972. What is not fully explained is South Korea’s
response under President Park to national security as a countermeasure to
North Korea’s intensified armed attacks on the South on the one hand, and
U.S. reduction of troops in South Korea on the other.
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In the aftermath of the North Korean commando attempt to assassinate
Park in January 1968,2 an unequivocal act of terrorism in today’s terms,
Park sought to build weapons factories in order to arm a reserve force of 2.5
million, which he founded as the Homeland Guard (Hyangt’o Yebigun) on
April 1, 1968. Park’s plan to build a defense industry in fact turned into the
South Korean government’s Military Modernization Program when the
United States initiated the normalization of relations with China. By then,
Park’s confidence in the U.S. security commitment to the Korean peninsula
had reduced to the extent that he became determined to build South Korea’s
own defense posture by producing military weapons in response to North
Korean armed aggression.
Park’s top development priority, in other words, was national security,
especially through the implementation of the Heavy and Chemical

Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979: Development, Political Thought, Democracy, and Cultural Influence