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Court orders retrial of ex-spy chief who assassinated Park Chung Hee in 1979

Published: 19 Feb. 2025, 16:36

Former intelligence chief Kim Jae-gyu, second from left, stands trial in 1979 for assassinating then-President Park Chung Hee. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The Seoul High Court said Wednesday that it has decided to retry the case of former spy chief Kim Jae-gyu, who was convicted in 1979 for assassinating then-President Park Chung Hee.

The decision came about five years after a family member of Kim requested a retrial of his case, seeking to have an insurrection charge against him be cleared.

Kim, the former head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, assassinated Park and Cha Ji-cheol, head of the presidential security service, on Oct. 26, 1979, during a private dinner party, and was sentenced to death and executed in May 1980.

The court said it found grounds for a retrial after determining that investigators had tortured and assaulted Kim during the investigation.

The court's decision also came after it conducted a monthslong review starting with its first hearing over the case last April.

The retrial will take place as ideological debates persist over Park's 18-year dictatorship that ended with his assassination.

Conservatives credit Park for the country's fast economic growth, while liberals denounce him as a strongman who cracked down on political opponents and infringed on people's basic rights.

Yonhap