Abstract
This paper deals with the change of political situations after the assassination of Park Chung Hee in 1979. is paper particularly pays attention to the roles of major political actors such as Kim Jong Pil, Choi Kyu Ha, and Shi Hyun Hwak. A main research question here is why Kim Jong Pil, a longtime 2nd powerful man after Park Chung Hee, failed to capture political power when Park Chung Hee was killed. This paper argues that in his late years Park Chung Hee recruited many of politically important positions of the government, the military and the Blue House from his home region, and as a consequence, political elites from the Taegu-Kyungbuk (or TK) province established a mighty power bloc. The TK bloc led the political situation after Park’s death, and successfully prevented Kim Jong Pil from taking over political power. Shin Hyun Hwak, the then prime minister, played a key role within the TK bloc. Shin set up political cooperation with President Choi Kyu Ha, who used to be a lifetime diplomat. However, when President Choi felt concerned about the consolidation of power in favor of Shin, he appointed general Chun Doo Hwan as acting chief of Korean Central Intelligence Service to check Shin and the TK group. Such an internal division created a favorable condition for the military of Chun Doo Hwan in 1980.
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