Seoul retries ex-spy chief over 1979 assassination

South Korea has kicked off a retrial for the country’s former spy chief, Kim Jae-gyu, over the 1979 assassination of then-president Park Chung-hee, Kim's family told AFP yesterday.

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Park had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 15 years when he was shot and killed by his head of intelligence and trusted aide Kim at a dinner in 1979.

Kim was subsequently sentenced to death by a military court for killing the head of state with the goal of “insurrection”, and was hanged shortly after.

But his family appealed to South Korean courts to revisit the case in 2020, claiming that while Kim had killed the president, he did so seeking to end a dictatorship, not for personal gain.