Mun Se-gwang

Mun Se-gwang was born to an ethnic Korean family in Osaka, Japan on 26 December 1951. His family had come to Japan from southern Korea in the mid-1930s. == Attempted assassination of Park Chung-hee ==

Stealing a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver from an Osaka police box on 18 July 1974, he concealed it in his luggage and flew to South Korea on 8 August 1974, using a Japanese passport to enter the country. He then booked into the Chosun Hotel. His second bullet hit the left side of the podium from which Park was delivering his speech. His third bullet was a misfire but the fourth struck Park's wife, 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 , one 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. Despite extensive surgery, Yuk died at 7:00 p.m. that same day. During his interrogation, Mun confessed to having been aided in his bid to assassinate Park by an official of a North Korea aligned residents association in Japan. This, and the fact that Mun used a Japanese passport to enter South Korea, strained diplomatic relationships between Japan, North Korea, and South Korea; South Korea concluded that Mun was acting on behalf of North Korea, but Japan refused to accept South Korea's position. Consequently, Park threatened to break off diplomatic relations and to nationalise Japanese assets in South Korea. It required mediation by United States embassy officials before Japan issued a letter of regret, easing tensions between the two countries. At the same time, North Korean officials made a statement that they were not involved in the assassination attempt, but they approved of it, calling Moon Se-gwang a "real communist." == Execution ==

At the trial, Mun Se-gwang through a Japanese interpreter also expressed regret that he had failed to kill Park, and that an innocent schoolgirl had died because of his actions. On 17 December 1974, he was found guilty of the attempted assassination resulting in the deaths of two people and sentenced to death. Four months after his failed attempt, Mun was executed by hanging at Seoul Detention Center. == Aftermath ==

The Japanese government responded with a written letter from Kakuei Tanaka and an oral statement from Etsusaburo Shiina, to the effect of "the incident has been an unfortunate one for the peoples of Korea and Japan alike”. == See also ==