Yuk Young-soo

Yuk was born in Okcheon County, Chungcheongbuk-do, Japanese Korea in 1925, the second of three daughters of a prosperous self-made landlord. She graduated from Baehwa High School for Girls (presently known as Paihwa Girls' High School). In August 1950 she met Park Chung-hee through a relative who was serving under Park.[1] On 12 December 1950 she married Park Chung-hee. While her mother supported her choice of husband, Yuk's father was against the match, so she married without his blessing.[2]

Yuk Young-soo participating in the Red Cross sewing volunteer activity (1963)

When Park Chung-hee was in the mission as the chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, Yuk Young-soo's main interest was handling civil complaints. Jeong Jae-hoon, a disciple and secretary of the First Lady's Office for six years, recalled:[3]

“We have conversations with as many people as possible to collect public opinion on the streets, and dozens of complaints a day are left with instructions. I made them run.”

Children's magazine founded by Yuk Young-soo (1964)

Yuk Young-soo always made a simple impression on people regarding Hanbok and elegance, and was a sincere wife to her husband at home. She also took great interest in children and health, and often visited orphanages and nurseries several times to develop policies for children's health. During her husband's tenure, she mainly took care of receiving guests and dealing with complaints, although she wanted to do her part as “a revolutionary's wife”. She is also involved with the Red Cross and with children with autism. In 1970, the construction of Children's Grand Park started and opened the following year.[4]

She is also close to the people, and visited patients suffering from leprosy. She helped to start start several self-support projects, and visited the families of South Korean soldiers deployed to Vietnam, to comfort and console them. In 1973, she undertook projects which saw the development of vocational training institutes for poor and disadvantaged youth. Because of the efforts of Yuk Young-soo, a vigorous social services are professional because the social welfare-oriented vocational training that have had to know glim of poverty.[5]

She also did not hesitate to try to influence her husband, especially in 1963, when, to resolve tensions with the American ambassador Samuel D. Berger, she invited him to the Blue House. Park Chung-hee then jokes about it, going so far as to consider her "the first opposition party". In 1969, she created a private foundation with the aim of improving the well-being of South Korean children. In 1974, a mother was invited to the Blue House revealed that her child was suffering from facial paralysis. Yuk Young-soo found the best acupuncture center and hospitalized him. [6]

At 10:23 a.m., 15 August 1974,[7] South Korean Independence Day, Yuk was shot and killed by Mun Se-gwang, a Zainichi Korean and North Korean sympathizer, during an attempt by Mun to assassinate President Park Chung-hee.[8]

Tomb of Park Chung-hee and his wife Yuk Young-soo at Seoul National Cemetery

The assassination occurred at the Seoul National Theater of Korea during an Independence Day ceremony. Mun intended to shoot Park in the theater lobby. However, his view was obstructed, and he was forced to enter and be seated near the back of the theater. During Park's address, he attempted to get closer to the President but inadvertently fired his Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver prematurely, injuring himself. Having alerted security, he then ran down the theater aisle firing wildly.[9] His second bullet hit the left side of the podium from which Park was delivering his speech. The third bullet was a misfire. His fourth bullet struck Yuk Young-soo in the head, seriously wounding her. His last bullet went through a flag decorating the rear of the stage. A bullet fired by Park Jong-gyu, a member of the President's security detail, in response to Mun's attack, ricocheted off a wall and killed a high school student, Jang Bong-hwa. Immediately following the capture of Mun, Park resumed his scheduled speech despite the wounding of his wife and her being carried from the stage. Following its completion he picked up his wife's handbag and shoes and left.[10]

Yuk was rushed to the Seoul National University Hospital in Wonnam-dong, central Seoul. Dr. Shim Bo-seong, who was chief of the hospital's neurosurgery department, began operating on Yuk at 11 a.m., which lasted for over five hours. The bullet damaged the largest vein on the right side of her brain and remained lodged within the brain. The surgery was unable to save her life and she died at 7:00 p.m. that same day.[11]

Yuk Young-soo during her youth (1935)

Yuk was buried in a state funeral on 19 August 1974.[12] Yuk Young-soo is buried next to her husband at the Seoul National Cemetery. Park composed the following poem the day after Yuk's state funeral.[13]

Park Geun-hye then became the First Lady of South Korea, after returning urgently from her studies in France at the Joseph Fourier University. She held this position for five years, until her father's assassination in 1979.[14][15] Yuk Young-soo remains in the eyes of the South Korean people as the most appreciated First Lady, returning a calm image of wise and temperate woman. On her 42nd death anniversary, a concert was organized on memory of her in Seoul.[16] [17]

•  South Korea:
  • Honorary Recipient of the Grand Order of Mugunghwa (1967)
•  Malaysia:
  • Honorary Recipient of the Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm (1965)

Yuk Young-soo, Park Chung-hee, and their children, including Park Geun-hye (1961)

Yuk Young-soo and Park Chung-hee had three children: daughters Park Geun-hye, the 11th president of South Korea, as well as Park Geun-ryoung and a son Park Ji-man.

Yuk Young-soo was a devout Buddhist and a devotee of Doseonsa in Seoul.[18]

• Assassination of Park Chung-hee

• Jager, Sheila Miyoshi (2013). Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea (Hardback). London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-84668-067-0.
• Keon, Michael (1977). Korean Phoenix: A Nation from the Ashes (Hardback). Prentice-Hall International. ISBN 978-013-516823-3.
• Oberdorfer, Don (1997). The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. Reading: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-20140-927-7.

• Young Soo Yuk Park, First Lady of South Korea at Find a Grave