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80-468: The origin of the exercise is Taeguk Yeonseup (태극연습, Taeguk Exercise), which began after the Blue House Raid by North Korean special forces in 1968. The title of the exercise was changed to Ulchi Yeonseup (을지연습, Ulchi Exercise) in the following year. In 1976, it was integrated with ROK-US Combined Forces Command 's military training, Focus Lens, into Ulchi-Focus Lens . The name of the exercise

160-711: A Military Armistice Commission (MAC) meeting be held to discuss the raid. The UNC requested the meeting for January 23, but the North Koreans asked for a day's delay. On January 23, the USS ; Pueblo , a technical research ship of the United States Navy , was captured by North Korea. Consequently, the MAC meeting held on January 24 had to deal not only with the raid but also with the Pueblo ' s capture. To

240-665: A considerable extent, the seizure of the Pueblo diverted U.S. and international attention from the Blue House raid. The Blue House raid occurred on the same day when the Battle of Khe Sanh started in Vietnam and on January 31 the Tet Offensive broke out across South Vietnam, making any U.S. support for South Korean retaliation unlikely. In Saigon, Viet Cong guerrillas attempted to assassinate President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu at

320-570: A coup to unfold, and the problems of the Second Republic provided the context for the coup to be organised and realised. A direct factor in paving the way to the coup was factionalism in the South Korean army itself, one of the largest in the world at the time with 600,000 soldiers. The army had been given a distinctive identity by the dual Japanese and subsequently American training that many of its members had received, "combin[ing]

400-400: A graveyard." Their training was rigorous and often in adverse conditions, such as running at a speed of 13 km/h (8 mph) with 30 kg (66 pound) rucksacks over broken and unforgiving terrain, which sometimes resulted in injuries such as lost toes and feet from frostbite . On January 16, 1968, Unit 124 left their garrison at Yonsan . On January 17, 1968, at 23:00, they infiltrated

480-492: A propaganda basis for the coup. By October, Park had gathered nine core members, tasking his close associate Kim Jong-pil with the role of general secretary. Fortuitously in November, Park was transferred from his post at Pusan to Seoul, and at a meeting on November 9 at his Seoul residence, the core group decided that they would manipulate the anti-corruption movement within the military to support their aims. Furthermore, it

560-555: A series of wide-ranging purges of civilian institutions. The KCIA was supported in this latter work by the Inspection Committee on Irregularities in the Public Service. The purges of state ministries were escalated by the announcement on July 20 of a policy programme aiming at the forced retirement of almost 41,000 "excess" bureaucrats and the reduction of the number of civil servants by 200,000. The purges of

640-480: A vision of society broadly similar to his own. Rhee eliminated any significant source of real opposition, securing for example the execution of Cho Bong-am , who had campaigned against him in the presidential elections of 1956 on a platform of peaceful reunification and had attracted some 30% of the vote, an unacceptably high level of support for an opposition candidate. Even such significant opposition figures as Cho, however, can be considered to have been part of

720-426: Is "a key exercise in strengthening the readiness of Republic of Korea and U.S. forces." The 2017 exercise took place August 21–31, during a crisis over successful North Korean missile tests and strong rhetoric by U.S. President Trump . The U.S. manpower contribution for the exercise was reduced from 25,000 in 2016 to 17,500. South Korean media reported that the U.S. had cancelled plans to deploy strategic assets in

800-535: The DMZ by cutting through the fencing of the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division 's sector. By 02:00 the next day they had set up camp at Morae-dong and Seokpo-ri . On January 19, at 05:00, after having crossed the Imjin River , they set up camp on Simbong Mountain. At 14:00, four brothers named Woo from Beopwon-ri were out cutting firewood and stumbled across the unit's camp. After a fierce debate over whether to kill

880-702: The Independence Palace but were quickly beaten back. Some writers have suggested that due to the similarities of both attacks by a similar number of commandos (31 in Seoul and 34 in Saigon, respectively) that the North Korean leaders had a certain insight into Vietnamese Communist military operations, and wanted to take advantage of the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Johnson regarded the seizure of

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960-517: The Japanese militarist ethos with the American spirit of technical efficiency to expand its mission from defending the country against communist aggression to that of helping it build itself into a modern nation". Reformist junior officers viewed the senior generals as having been corrupted by party politics, and the problem was compounded by a bottleneck in promotions caused by the consolidation of

1040-537: The Korean War to consolidate a monopoly on political power in the republic. Rhee represented the interests of a conservative ruling class, the so-called "liberation aristocrats" who had risen to positions of influence under American occupation . These "liberation aristocrats" formed the bulk of the political class, encompassing both Rhee's supporters and his rivals in the Democratic Party , which advanced

1120-658: The Pueblo and the timing of the Tet Offensive to have been coordinated to divert U.S. resources away from Vietnam and to force the South Koreans to withdraw their two Divisions and Marine Brigade from South Vietnam. Unlike Johnson, UNC commander, General Charles H. Bonesteel III saw no such connection. He regarded the Blue House Raid as having been planned at the highest levels in North Korea, while

1200-516: The Second Republic , installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as chairman after Chang's arrest in July. The coup was instrumental in bringing to power a new developmentalist elite and in laying the foundations for the rapid industrialization of South Korea under Park's leadership, but its legacy is controversial for

1280-649: The South Korean 25th Infantry Division began searching Nogo Mountain for the infiltrators, but they had already left the area. By then the commandos in the unit realized that the Park Administration had been notified of their infiltration in the South and changed their tactics accordingly. The unit entered Seoul in two- and three-man cells on the night of January 20 and regrouped at the Seungga-sa Temple, where they made their final preparations for

1360-636: The United Nations Command , simultaneously announced the return to the ROK Army of all rights of operational command. By May 27, the coup leaders were confident in American support and dissolved the martial law they had imposed on the day of the coup. On June 24, American Ambassador Samuel D. Berger arrived in Seoul, and reportedly informed Park that the United States was interested in publicly supporting his government, but required

1440-431: The "revolt against seniors" ( 하극상 사건 ; 下剋上事件 ; hageuksang sageon ). By this point, initial plans for a coup were already advanced, and they were accelerated by the "revolt against seniors". The first plan for a military coup to evolve was the so-called "May 8 plan", a plan calling for a putsch on May 8, 1960. This plan was discussed and formulated at the start of 1960 by reformist officers including Park, and

1520-530: The 26th Infantry Division's Engineer Battalion killed one commando on Dobong Mountain . On January 24, 1968, the 26th Infantry Division and 1st Infantry Division soldiers killed 12 commandos near Seongu-ri . On January 25, three commandos were killed near Songchu . On January 29, six commandos were killed near Papyeong Mountain. During the course of this assassination attempt, South Korean casualties totaled 26 killed and 66 wounded, including about 24 civilians. Four Americans also were killed in attempts to block

1600-467: The Democratic Party's "New Faction", had been elected prime minister by the thin margin of three votes. Purges of Rhee's appointees were rendered ineffective in the public eye by Chang's manipulation of the suspect list to favour wealthy businessmen and powerful generals. Although Rhee had been removed and a democratic constitution instituted, the "liberation aristocrats" remained in power, and

1680-575: The Democratic Party, with Rhee's Liberals reduced to a mere two seats in the newly constituted lower house of the National Assembly . The Second Republic adopted a parliamentary system, with a figurehead president as head of state; executive power was effectively vested in the prime minister and cabinet. Democrat Yun Posun was elected as president in August, with former vice-president Chang Myon becoming prime minister. The Second Republic

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1760-586: The Military Demarcation Line (MDL). No fly zones was also established along the DMZ to ban the operation of drones, helicopters and other aircraft from coming within 10 to 40 km away from the MDL. In August 2019, a similar but scaled down exercise under an undisclosed name was carried out, mainly using computer simulations. The main scenario was South Korea taking over from the U.S. 90 days after

1840-524: The North Korean leadership concluded that Park's domestic opposition no longer constituted a serious challenge to his rule. On June 28 – July 3, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held an extended plenum at which North Korean leader Kim Il Sung called on the cadres "to prepare to give assistance to the struggle of our South Korean brethren." In July 1967, a special squad of

1920-538: The Sixth District Army now secure under his control, Park chose Colonel Kim Jae-chun to organize the vanguard of the occupation of Seoul and dispatched a message to Chang Do-yong, instructing him to definitively join the coup or suffer the consequences of association with the civilian government. He then departed for Special Warfare Command , where he issued instructions to cross the Han River and occupy

2000-535: The South Korean economy, which remained stagnant, poor and largely agrarian. The lack of development under Rhee provoked a growing nationalistic intellectual reaction which called for a radical restructuring of society and a thorough political and economic reorganization. Park Chung Hee , the later leader of the May Coup who at that time was a second-tier army officer with decidedly ambiguous political leanings,

2080-556: The United States over the objections of North Korea. North Korea alleged that the drill was a precursor to a war planned against them. The North Korean foreign ministry stated that "the prevailing situation requires us to bolster up the war deterrent physically and goes to prove that it was entirely just when we determined to fully reexamine the nuclear issue." The United States Department of State countered, saying that North Korea must refrain from "bellicose statements." General James D. Thurman , added on, stating that Ulchi Freedom Guardian

2160-423: The additional offices of Prime Minister and Defense Minister, becoming formal head of the administration. The SCNR was formalized as a junta of the 30 highest-ranking military officers initially arranged in 14 subcommittees, and assumed a wide-ranging responsibility that included the powers to promulgate laws, appoint cabinet posts, and oversee the functioning of the administration as a whole. The constitution of

2240-509: The attack. Meanwhile, the ROK (Republic of Korea) High Command added the 30th Infantry Division and Airborne Corps to the search and police began searching along Hongje-dong , Jeongreung , and Bukak Mountain. Given the increased security measures that had been implemented throughout the city and realizing their original plan had little chance of success, the team leader improvised a new plan. Changing into Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) uniforms of

2320-523: The broad conservative consensus of the governing class, which rested on a traditionalist, Confucian worldview that saw "pluralism in ideology and equality in human relationships [as] foreign concepts", and which upheld the value of paternalist government and the power of extensive networks of political patronage . Rhee, under this traditionalist model, was the foremost "elder" in Korean society, to whom Koreans owed familial allegiance , and this relationship

2400-630: The brothers, it was decided instead to try to indoctrinate them on the benefits of communism and they were released with a stern warning not to notify the police. However, the brothers immediately reported the presence of the unit to the Changhyeon police station in Beopwon-ri. The unit broke camp and increased their pace to more than 10 km/h (6 mph), carrying 30 kg (70 lb) of equipment each, crossing Nogo Mountain and arriving at Bibong Mountain on January 20 at 07:00. Three battalions from

2480-672: The cessation of "purges and recriminations". Finally, on July 27, Secretary of State Dean Rusk announced the United States' official recognition of the SCNR government at a press conference. A significant development occurred soon after the coup with the planning and subsequent establishment of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). Members of the Military Revolutionary Committee were briefed on May 20 by Kim Jong-pil on

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2560-572: The construction of an autonomous national economy, Korean reunification, and the removal of the present generation of politicians. The proclamation was issued in the name of Chang Do-yong, who was referred to as the chairman of the committee, but this was without his prior approval. When dawn broke, a marine corps unit under Kim Yun-geun crossed the Han River and took control of the Blue House as instructed. The civilian government rapidly imploded. Prime Minister Chang Myon had fled Seoul on hearing of

2640-433: The country. The Prime Minister and Ministers, however, are mired in corruption, leading the country to the verge of collapse. We shall rise up against the government to save the country. We can accomplish our goals without bloodshed. Let us join in this Revolutionary Army to save the country. The speech was so successful that even the military police who had been dispatched to arrest the mutineers defected to their cause. With

2720-553: The coup had taken place, Chang Do-yong would be placed as head of the Revolutionary Council in order to get the entire army's support. In March 1961, the core group met at the Chungmu-jang Restaurant in Seoul, and fixed the date April 19 for the coup, expecting significant disturbances on that day due to its being the anniversary of the revolution that had overthrown Rhee's regime. Park also secured

2800-437: The coup in Seoul, preventing any realistic chance of its suppression. After three days of hiding, Chang Myon reappeared to announce the resignation of the entire cabinet, and ceded power to the new junta . Army cadets marched through the streets proclaiming their support for the coup. Chang Do-yong now accepted his appointment as chairman of the committee, granting it the final stamp of authority that it required. The May 16 coup

2880-494: The coup, and President Yun Posun accepted the coup as a fait accompli . Yun continued to serve as nominal head of state until 1963, though stripped of all effective power. Commander Lee Han-lim of the First Army had prepared to mobilize the reserves to suppress the coup, but backed down to prevent an opportunity for a North Korean attack. He was arrested two days later. Twenty heavily armed divisions now stood in support of

2960-488: The development of a concerted opposition under Park and its evolution into the Gwangju Democratization Movement after 1980, the coup became the subject of much controversy, with many opponents of the military regime, such as Kim Dae Jung , looking back on the coup as an unjustified act of insurrectionary violence that toppled South Korea's first genuinely democratic government. Others point to

3040-482: The escaping infiltrators from crossing the DMZ. Of the 31 members of Unit 124, 29 were killed or committed suicide; one, Kim Shin-jo , was captured, and the other one, Pak Jae-gyong managed to escape back to North Korea. The bodies of the members of Unit 124 killed in the raid were later buried in the Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers . On January 22, the United Nations Command (UNC) requested that

3120-466: The event was re-designated as a coup or military insurrection ( 군사 정변 ; 軍事政變 ; gunsa jeongbyeon ). Park had described the "May Revolution" as an "unavoidable ... act of self-defense by and for the Korean people", and in the historiography of the military regimes, the Revolution was presented as having been the result of the will of the nation as a whole. Kim Young-sam's re-designation of

3200-684: The exercise, such as aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines or a B1 bomber . U.S. Forces Korea did not comment on the reason. In 2018, the South Korean government cancelled that year's exercise. However, joint US-South Korean military exercises resumed again on November 5, 2018, though on a small scale compared to previous exercises. A buffer zone had been established across the Korean Demilitarized Zone on November 1, 2018 to prohibit both Koreas from conducting live-fire artillery drills and regiment-level field maneuvering exercises or those by bigger units within 5 kilometers of

3280-470: The expected disturbances, however, and the planners rescheduled the coup for May 12. Some time shortly after this, the May 12 plan was finally leaked by accident to the military security forces, who reported it to Prime Minister Chang Myon and Defense Minister Hyeon Seok-ho. Chang Myon was dissuaded from commissioning an investigation by the intervention of Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong, who convinced him that

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3360-430: The fate of the nation and the people cannot be entrusted to the corrupt and incompetent regime and its politicians. (2) We believe that the time has come [for the armed forces] to give direction to our nation, which has gone dangerously astray. The broadcast went on to outline the policy objectives of the coup, including anti-communism, strengthening of ties with the United States, the elimination of political corruption,

3440-403: The financial backing of prominent businessmen, amassing a total of 7.5 million hwan . Finally, on April 10, 1961, Park took the initiative in revealing the details of the plan to Chang Do-yong himself. Chang's subsequent ambivalent response was decisive in allowing the coup to take place. While he turned down the leadership position offered to him, he neither informed the civilian government of

3520-518: The firefight; one commando was captured but managed to commit suicide. On January 22, 1968, the ROK Army's 6th Corps began a massive sweep operation to capture or kill any members of the unit. Soldiers from the 92nd Regiment, 30th Infantry Division captured Kim Shin-jo , who had been hiding in a civilian's house near Inwang Mountain. The 30th Battalion, Capital Defense Command, killed four commandos in Buam-dong and on Bukak Mountain. On January 23,

3600-600: The government apparatus, Park's triumph in the power struggles that followed the May coup, and his eventual election as civilian president in 1963 set the stage for the consolidation of his developmental regime. The May 16 coup was the starting point of a series of military regimes that would last in some form until 1993. It also provided a precedent for the December Twelfth and the May Seventeenth coups of Chun Doo-hwan , Park's effective successor. With

3680-629: The headquarters of the Korean Broadcasting System , issuing a proclamation announcing the Military Revolutionary Committee's seizure of power: The military authorities, thus far avoiding conflict, can no longer restrain themselves, and have taken a concerted operation at the dawn of this day to completely take over the three branches of the Government ... and to form the Military Revolutionary Committee. ... The armed services have staged this uprising because: (1) We believe that

3760-405: The intended functions of this new agency. The KCIA was realized on June 10 with the enactment of Law No. 619, which brought the agency into being under the direction of Kim Jong-pil. The KCIA would be Park's central power base throughout his leadership of South Korea, and it served an important function from the outset, granting Kim and Park the ability to remove Chang from the council and to initiate

3840-434: The local 26th Infantry Division, complete with the correct unit insignia (which they had brought with them), they formed up and prepared to march the last kilometre (1000 yards) to the Blue House, posing as ROKA soldiers returning from a counter-infiltration patrol. The unit marched along Segeomjeong Road near Jahamun toward the Blue House, passing several National Police and ROKA units en route. At 22:00 on January 21, 1968,

3920-462: The military. Park failed in winning over the army's Counter-Intelligence Command and the 9th Division , but neither organization reported the plans to higher authorities, allowing the planning to proceed unimpeded. As 1960 drew to a close, moreover, Park began parallel talks outside of his core group, structuring a loose network of supporters for his plan; among those brought in by these talks was Major General Lee Chu-il , with whom Park agreed that once

4000-514: The new cabinet was the subject of an intense internal power struggle, however, and over the course of the next two months Park soon engineered a rapid transfer of power into his own hands. On June 6, the SCNR promulgated the Law Regarding Extraordinary Measures for National Reconstruction, which stripped Chang of his posts of Defense Minister and Army Chief of Staff. Much of this law was drafted by Yi Seok-che , who

4080-473: The outbreak of a war to carry out stabilization operations after North Korea has been neutralised. For the first time a South Korean General led the exercise. North Korea complained that the exercise violated U.S. President Donald Trump 's promise to halt major war games. Blue House Raid The Blue House raid , also known in South Korea as the 21 January Incident ( Korean :  1·21 사태 ),

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4160-407: The plan, nor ordered the arrest of the conspirators. This allowed Park to present Chang as an "invisible hand" guiding the organization of the coup. According to Han, this ambivalence was most likely because Chang had calculated that the coup organizers had by this time gathered too much momentum to stop, though this analysis assumes Chang's earlier non-involvement. The date of April 19 passed without

4240-423: The plans for the coup. The historian Kim Hyung-A suggests by contrast that it is possible that Chang, as Army Chief of Staff, deliberately spread the rumors of Park's imminent removal in order to provide political cover for the coup; he concludes that "it is obvious that Park had received extraordinary support from someone in power". Over the course of the next half-year, the coup plans became an open secret within

4320-692: The positions of the senior commanders of the army after the end of its rapid expansion in the Korean War. The army was also divided along regional lines and between factions of officers who had graduated from the same school. Of the latter, the most influential were the competing factions who had graduated from the Japanese Military Academy and from the Manchurian officers' school at Xinjing respectively, while more lower-ranked officers were divided by their class of graduation from

4400-443: The positive legacy of the coup, however, such as the 1994 Freedom House analysis which refers to the rapid industrialization that followed the coup and the "uncorrupt" nature of Park's rule. In official discourse before 1993, the coup was referred to as the "May 16 Revolution" ( 5·16 혁명 ; 五一六革命 ; O-illyuk hyeongmyeong ), but under the reforming non-military administration of erstwhile opposition leader Kim Young-sam ,

4480-799: The post-1966 commando raids as a South Korean guerrilla movement akin to the Viet Cong . Thirty-one men were handpicked from the elite all-officer KPA Unit 124. This special operation commando unit trained for two years and spent their final 15 days rehearsing action on the objective in a full-scale mockup of the Blue House . These specially selected men were trained in infiltration and exfiltration techniques, weaponry, navigation, airborne operations, amphibious infiltration, hand-to-hand combat (with emphasis on knife fighting ) and concealment. Kim Shin-jo , one of only two known survivors, said "It made us fearless—no one would think to look for us in

4560-510: The post-liberation Korean Military Academy . Park had attended all three institutions, and was uniquely positioned to lead what would become the coup coalition, with his extensive ties among both the senior commanders of the army and the younger factions. After the overthrow of the Rhee regime and the institution of the Second Republic, the reformists, led by KMA alumni, began to call for the senior commanders to be held to account for complicity in

4640-462: The presidential residence at the Blue House . Meanwhile, an artillery brigade occupied the central Army Headquarters and secured the downtown areas of Seoul north of the Han. By 4:15am, after a brief exchange of fire with loyalist military police who were guarding the bridge across the Han, Park's forces had occupied the administrative buildings of all three branches of government. They proceeded to seize

4720-635: The recently established Unit 124 of the Korean People's Army (KPA) was entrusted with the task of assassinating Park. This decision was probably facilitated by the fact that in 1967, the Vietnam War entered a new stage of escalation, and American military forces, preoccupied as they were with Vietnam, could not easily take retaliatory measures against North Korea. In 1965–1968, North Korea–North Vietnam relations were very close, and North Korea provided substantial military and economic assistance to North Vietnam . North Korean propaganda sought to depict

4800-484: The rigging of the 1960 and 1956 presidential elections. Park, relatively high-ranking as Major General, threw himself into the spotlight by declaring his support for the reformists and demanding the resignation of Army Chief of Staff Song Yo-chan on May 2. On September 24, 16 colonels, led by Kim Jong-pil, demanded the resignation of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Choi Yong-hui in an incident known as

4880-423: The security report was unreliable. Pervasive unrealized rumours of the imminence of a military coup also contributed to Chang Myon's decision, and the report on the May 12 plan was dismissed as a false alarm. The coup organizers responded by aborting the May 12 plan and fixing a new, and final, date and time, 3am on May 16. The plot was leaked once again early in the morning of May 16, and this time immediate action

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4960-404: The seizure of the Pueblo seemed merely opportunistic and the timing of the Tet Offensive as helpful but coincidental. In response to the assassination attempt, the South Korean government organized the ill-fated Unit 684 . This group was intended to assassinate the leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung . However, following an improvement in intra-Korean relations, the unit's assassination mission

5040-427: The singularly problematic economic and political climate of the Second Republic encouraged a military intervention, the roots of the coup go back to the late Rhee period. Historians like Yong-Sup Han argue that the common view of the coup as caused solely by the vagaries of a new regime paralyzed by instability is too simplistic. From 1948, South Korea was governed by President Syngman Rhee, an anti-Communist who used

5120-446: The suppression of democracy and civil liberties it entailed, and the purges enacted in its wake. Termed the "May 16 Military Revolution" by Park and his allies, "a new, mature national debut of spirit", the coup's nature as a "revolution" is controversial and its evaluation contested. The background to the coup can be analysed both in terms of its immediate context and in terms of the development of post- liberation South Korea. Although

5200-594: The unit approached the Segeomjeong–Jahamun checkpoint less than 100 meters from the Blue House, where Jongro police chief Choi Gyushik approached the unit and began to question them. When he grew suspicious of their answers, he drew his pistol and was shot by members of the unit who started firing and throwing grenades at the checkpoint. After several minutes of shooting, the unit dispersed, with some heading off to Inwang Mountain , Bibong Mountain, and Uijeongbu . Choi and Assistant Inspector Jung Jong-su were killed in

5280-516: The worsening problems facing South Korea were proving insurmountable for the new government. The breakdown of South Korean politics and the administrative purges racking the army combined to demoralise and discourage the Military Security Command, which was charged with the maintenance of the chain of command in the military and weeding out insubordination. The reluctance of the Military Security Command to act allowed plans for

5360-472: Was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung Hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong after the latter's acquiescence on the day of the coup. The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Chang Myon and President Yun Posun , and ended

5440-651: Was a raid launched by North Korean commandos in an attempt to assassinate President of South Korea Park Chung Hee in his residence at the Blue House in Seoul , on 21 January, 1968. A 31-man team of the Korean People's Army (KPA) infiltrated the DMZ but was intercepted by police near the presidential residence. In the ensuing pursuit, all but two commandos were killed; one was captured ( Kim Shin-jo ), and one ( Pak Jae-gyong ) fled back to North Korea. South Korean casualties totaled 26 killed and 66 wounded, including about 24 civilians; four Americans also were killed. Park

5520-654: Was aimed at unseating Rhee from the presidency. This plan never moved significantly beyond being an idea, and was soon superseded by the April Revolution. From May to October 1960, however, Park assembled a variety of officers to organize a new plan for a coup, largely on the basis of his ties with other graduates of the Manchurian Military Academy. He also secured the loyalty of the editor of the Pusan Daily News , aiming to ensure

5600-411: Was amended to allow Park to assume the office of chairman both of the SCNR and its Standing Committee. Part of the immediate task of the coup leaders was to secure American approval for their new government. This approval came quickly, as on May 20, President John F. Kennedy dispatched a message to the SCNR confirming the friendship between the two countries. Carter B. Magruder , commander-in-chief of

5680-503: Was beset with problems from the start, with bitter factionalism in the ruling Democratic Party competing with implacable popular unrest for the government's attention. The South Korean economy deteriorated under heavy inflation and high rates of unemployment, while recorded crime rates more than doubled; from December 1960 to April 1961, for example, the price of rice increased by 60 percent, while unemployment remained above 23%. Widespread food shortages resulted. Chang, meanwhile, representing

5760-574: Was cancelled and in 1971 the unit revolted and most of its members were killed. In May 1972, Kim Il Sung expressed regret and claimed that the Blue House raid "was entirely plotted by extreme leftists and did not reflect my intent or that of the Party" to the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) Lee Hu-rak during their meeting in Pyongyang. May 16 coup The May 16 military coup d'état ( Korean :  5·16 군사정변 )

5840-469: Was changed again in 2008 to Ulchi-Freedom Guardian . The exercise has on occasion included contingents from Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand. In 2022, thousands of protesters demonstrated against the drills in South Korea. North Korea routinely denounces the exercise as preparation for war. On 20 August 2012, the exercise began between South Korea and

5920-495: Was decided that Park would focus on building support for the coup among other generals, while the other core members would recruit younger officers and construct revolutionary cells within and outside Seoul. By Chang Do-yong's account, however, on January 12, 1961, it was discovered that Park had been placed on a list of 153 officers scheduled to be moved to the Reserve Army in May. This discovery would likely have accelerated

6000-537: Was heavily influenced by this unfolding intellectual reaction. After rigged elections in March 1960 , growing protests developed into the April Revolution , and Rhee was pressured by the United States into a peaceful resignation on April 26. With Rhee out of the way, a new constitution was promulgated establishing the Second Republic , and legislative elections on June 29 resulted in a landslide victory for

6080-485: Was now complete. The business of consolidating a new government began soon after the coup had been completed. Martial law was immediately put into force. On May 20, the Military Revolutionary Committee was renamed the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction (SCNR), and the following day a new cabinet was instituted. Chang Do-yong, the chairman of the committee, remained Army Chief of Staff, but also took on

6160-528: Was operating under instructions from Park to "eliminate" Chang. Four days later, on June 10, the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction Law was enacted, which specified that the deputy chairman of the SCNR would be chairman of its standing committee, granting Park additional powers. Finally, on July 3, Chang himself was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to carry out a counter-coup, and the June 10 law

6240-400: Was strengthened by the ties of obligation that connected Rhee to many in the ruling class. One result of the rule of the "liberation aristocrats" was the stalling of development in South Korea, in marked contrast to the situation in nearby Japan . Where South Korea had been intensively developed under the Japanese colonial system , Rhee's presidency saw little significant effort to develop

6320-532: Was taken. The Counter-Intelligence Command raised an alert that a mutiny was underway, and a detachment of military police was sent to round up the suspected perpetrators. Park moved to the Sixth District Army Headquarters, now Mullae Park , to take personal control of the coup operations and salvage the plan. Park gave a speech to the assembled soldiers, saying: We have been waiting for the civilian government to bring back order to

6400-607: Was unharmed. Park Chung Hee seized power in a 1961 coup d'état and ruled as a military strongman until his election and inauguration as the President of South Korea in 1963. The attack at the Blue House took place in the context of the Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–69) , which in turn was influenced by the Vietnam War . Following the 1967 South Korean presidential election and the legislative election ,

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