hankyoreh

Visits to the house where ex-president Park Chung-hee, father of Park Geun-hye, was born have fallen to an all-time low. According to the Gumi Metropolitan Government, 201,034 people visited the house in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, in 2018, the lowest number of visits to go on record. Visits to the house have declined rapidly since the 2016 corruption scandal involving Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil, which sparked a series of protests and political backlash that eventually led to Park’s impeachment and arrest. Her father Park Chung-hee took power through a military coup in 1963 and was assassinated in 1979. Although many conservative historians and politicians herald him as a pioneer who paved the way for South Korea’s post-war economic development, many have also denounced him as a cruel dictator who ruthlessly suppressed any political opposition via military force and intelligence networks. (Kim Il-woo, staff photographer)