Meet a revolutionary like you've never seen before!
Appeared on the stage of history through a 'coup d'état'
A record of 18 years under President Park Chung-hee, a modernizing president who ended his life with a "revolution."

This book is the most detailed report on a great revolutionary who brought about the industrial revolution that modernized South Korea.
Park Chung-hee, a revolutionary who risked his life fighting against incompetence and corruption to feed the hungry people and protect this country with our own strength.
His wish was to establish an independent and self-reliant Korea based on a society of simple, hard-working, honest, and sincere people.
This book contains the testimonies of countless people who participated in the modernization process, including the process by which Park Chung-hee, through his legs and eyes rather than his ears and mouth, confirmed and supervised the nation, ultimately succeeding in modernizing the country in a way no one else had been able to do, and in establishing a material foundation and a middle class.
The surprising fact that Park Chung-hee carried out three multi-stage coups during his lifetime to achieve liberal democracy through self-reliant national defense and a self-sufficient economy is the keyword and core of this book.
And the result of those three coups was revolution.

A leader who cannot even feed his people three proper meals is not a true leader.
When formulating any policy or law, you must always connect your thinking to a methodology that will feed the people. (Volume 2, page 29)
We will actively help villages that work hard and cooperate, but we will not help villages that do not work hard or cooperate.
This is the only way to eradicate the dependence that has been passed down for thousands of years and awaken the spirit of self-deprecation.
With this policy, even if I lose the election and have to give up power, I will not change this principle of punishment for those who are not rewarded. (Volume 2, page 32) --- From "Kicking Off the New Community Movement"

We don't need military power to invade other countries, but we must secure self-defense capabilities that allow us to curl up like a hedgehog and take an offensive stance if an enemy attempts to devour us. (Volume 2, page 69)
In this era of ruthless competition for survival, where all nations of the world, for the sake of their national interests, turn yesterday's enemies into today's allies and advocate the ruthless logic of survival of the fittest, we must deeply bear in mind that powerless nations will be forever left behind on the world stage.
(Omitted) Of course, support and cooperation from allies are also important in overcoming this ordeal.
But more importantly, our people's unwavering resolve, drive, and unity, and their blood, sweat, and tears, are cultivating national strength. (Volume 2, p. 98)
--- From "The Hedgehog Theory"

President Park Chung-hee's heavy chemical industrialization policy, declared in January 1973, was an inevitable choice given the national security situation facing South Korea.
The United States, mired in the Vietnam War, tried to escape its predicament by announcing the Nixon Doctrine.
The Nixon Doctrine contained the shocking content of the withdrawal of US troops from Korea.
South Korea, facing the repeated threat of invasion by North Korea's communist regime, desperately needed to build a defense industry for self-defense. (Volume 2, p. 139)
--- From "It's not agriculture, it's industry"

3.
Third coup
Park Chung-hee was in trouble.
Fostering the heavy chemical industry required more than 10 years and astronomical investments.
However, his term of office was extended by four years through a third constitutional amendment, but only three years remained until 1975.

To overcome this, extraordinary political determination was required.
At 7:00 PM on October 17, 1972, the regular broadcast was suddenly interrupted and a caption saying "Breaking News" appeared.
After martial law was declared nationwide, President Park Chung-hee simultaneously dissolved the National Assembly, suspended political activities of political parties, and announced a special address suspending some of the Constitution's provisions, with the Emergency State Council performing the functions of the suspended Constitutional provisions.
The framework of the Yushin Constitution stipulates that the president appoints one-third of the National Assembly members and all judges, has the power to issue emergency decrees and dissolve the National Assembly, and the president's term of office is six years and can be extended.
The presidential election system changed from a direct election by the people to an indirect election by the National Conference for Unification.
The basic democratic framework of separation of powers has collapsed, and the three powers of legislature, judiciary, and executive have been concentrated in the hands of the president.
In fact, the October Yushin was a kind of quasi-wartime mobilization system. Park Chung-hee's declaration of it was based on the historical fact that he fostered the defense and heavy chemical industries. (Volume 2, p. 181)
--- From "The Nixon Doctrine and the Withdrawal of US Forces from Korea"

In his memo, President Park Chung-hee presented three basic policies for the development of domestic missiles.

First, we will establish an independent development system.

Second, develop surface-to-surface missiles, with the first stage aiming for domestic production before 1975.

Third, we will mobilize domestic and international technical staff to develop technology, invite foreign experts, and form technological partnerships with foreign countries.
This secret project was disguised as the "Aviation Industry Promotion Plan," and later dubbed "White Bear." (Volume 2, p. 282) --- From "Develop Domestic Weapons"

In early 1972, Park Chung-hee called Chief Secretary Kim Jeong-ryeol and Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Oh Won-cheol, a leading figure in the development of domestic weapons, to his office and said, “We need nuclear weapons to protect peace.
By the late 1970s, the nuclear weapons project was nearing completion, with the top secret order to “secure the technology.” (Volume 2, page 327)
The United States began to apply persistent pressure on South Korea, believing that its possession of nuclear weapons would be a major factor in undermining stability in Northeast Asia.
Not only at sites like the Atomic Energy Research Institute, the Agency for Defense Development, and the Daejeon Machinery Factory, but also at the Blue House, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance, department heads were closely monitored by agents from the U.S. Embassy in Korea and the CIA, and they explicitly pressured them to halt nuclear development. (Volume 2, p. 349)
--- From "Project Codenamed '890'"

4.
And 'revolution'
The United States dispatched a scientific attaché to the U.S. Embassy in South Korea to monitor Park Chung-hee's nuclear development.
(syncopation)
“If Korea is not to perish, it must abandon nuclear development.” (Volume 2, p. 374)
--- From "Failure of Nuclear Development, Death of Park Chung-hee"

Although the Park Chung-hee regime suppressed the democratization movement, it contributed significantly to Korean democracy by paradoxically creating a middle class that forms the foundation of today's pluralism through economic development. (Volume 2, p. 409)

--- From "Epilogue"