Park Ji-man: "I Had Never Seen My Father Cry Out Loud Until the Day My Mother Died"

[Financial News] Park Ji-man, 68, chairman of EG and son of former President Park Chung Hee, has spoken out for the first time about the film The Assassin(s), which has sparked controversy over historical distortion by implying that Park Chung Hee was behind the assassination of Yuk Young-soo.

According to The Chosun Ilbo on the 3rd, Park Ji-man recalled his father on the night of Aug. 15, 1974, when Yuk Young-soo was killed. "When my father returned from Seoul National University Hospital, he suddenly hugged me and said, 'Ji-man, your mother has died,' then sobbed so hard that his chest heaved," he said. "I had never seen my father cry out loud like that."
In a phone interview with The Chosun Ilbo on the 1st, Park Ji-man said, "After confirming that my mother had died, my father came to Cheong Wa Dae late that evening. My older sister and I stood in the hallway to greet him. He suddenly stopped, hugged me, and sobbed." He added, "I was so shocked that I could barely think." At the time, Park Ji-man was a first-year high school student watching a live broadcast of the ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae with his maternal grandmother.
He added, "The entire nation watched on live television as my mother collapsed after being shot by Mun Se-gwang. I cannot understand why an incident that was clearly established as the lone act of Mun Se-gwang, a Korean resident of Japan, has now become the subject of suspicion and even been made into a film." He continued, "My father was behind my mother's assassination? Did people hate our father that much?"

Regarding the film's central premise that Park Chung Hee was behind Yuk Young-soo's assassination, he countered, "If he had wanted to assassinate my mother, couldn't he have done it somewhere else? Why would he risk his life at a place where he was giving a speech and could also be hit by bullets? That makes no sense."
In response to claims that it was suspicious that Park Chung Hee continued his speech even after his wife had been shot and taken to the hospital, he asked, "Should he have gone to the hospital with my mother?" He added, "The father I knew was not someone who would say, 'Let's get out of here quickly,' just because bullets were flying." He also rejected the film's portrayal of Yuk Young-soo as reluctant to attend the ceremony, saying, "I remember everything, including how she joked and laughed with me even as she hurried to get ready for the event."

Regarding the Park Chung Hee Presidential Memorial Foundation's criminal complaint for defamation of the dead and its application for an injunction to halt the film's screening, Park Ji-man said, "I don't care whether the film is screened or not. What would I do with damages?" He continued, "Rather than going to court, I hope many people will use this opportunity to learn who my father, Park Chung Hee, really was." He added, "If anything, I feel as though some of the frustration I've felt all this time is being relieved. I'm especially glad that young people have taken an interest in President Park Chung Hee."
[email protected] Kim Hee-sun Reporter