On the morning of May 16, 1961, maj. gen. Park Chung-hee made his presence known to the press for the first time as he stood in front of the Seoul City Hall. The photograph taken on the occasion, in which he is seen wearing dark glasses and holding his hands behind his back, has become the symbol of the military coup he staged on that day.
Chosun Ilbo photographer Chung Bum-tae, who took the picture, recalled, "He was cold and blunt. I felt that he was a man who could carry out a revolution."
Listening to the radio in the early morning, Koreans realized that the world had changed overnight. The radio blared out, "The military, which had been prudent and patient, took action at dawn this morning. It has taken complete control of the three powers of government, executive, legislative and judicial, and launched a military revolutionary committee."
The committee pledged to give priority to anti-communism, root out all kinds of corruption and evil practices, and fight the famine. Thanks to these "revolutionary pledges" such terms as "evil practice" and "famine" became the buzzwords of the day.
The statement was issued in the name of Army chief of staff Chang Do-young, but he had not written it. It was Park Chung-hee himself who, having initiated discussion of the coup before the April 19, 1960 Student Movement, proofread and gave the final touches to the statement drafted by Kim Jong-pil. And it was Park who mobilized soldiers and sent them into the center of Seoul on May 16. There was no bloodshed.
Despite the overpowering atmosphere of censorship, the Chosun Ilbo's evening edition on May 16, 1961 and its morning edition the following day described the event as a "military coup." It certainly was, considering that a small group of officers illegally overthrew a government that had been established in accordance with constitutional procedures.
Curiously, however, the people did not show any particular opposition to the coup at the time. Even the leftwing magazine "The World of Thought" expressed considerable expectations of the "revolution."
In a study published last year, Cho Hee-youn, a leading leftwing academic and a professor of sociology at SungKongHoe University, said, "The coup leaders had a patriotic goal to reform the corrupt political circles and the government structure."
The coup leaders' patriotism was the starting point for the rapid industrialization that changed the face of Korea forever.
