Yuk Young-soo was the wife of the 3rd South Korean president Park Chung-hee and the mother of incumbent South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
Background
Yuk was born in Okcheon County, Chungcheongbuk-do, South of Korea in 1925, the second of three daughters of a prosperous self-made landlord. While her mother supported her choice of husband, Yuk"s father was against the match, so she married without his blessing.
Education
She graduated from Baehwa Women"s High School.
Career
She was assassinated in 1974. In August 1950 she met Park Chung-hee through a relative who was serving under Park. The assassination occurred at the Seoul National Theater of of Korea during an Independence Day ceremony.
However, his view was obstructed, and he was forced to enter and be seated near the back of the theater.
During Park"s address, he attempted to get closer to the President but inadvertently fired his Smith & Wesson.38-caliber revolver prematurely, injuring himself. Having alerted security, he then ran down the theater aisle firing wildly.
His second bullet hit the left side of the podium from which Park was delivering his speech. The third bullet was a misfire.
His fourth bullet struck Yuk Young-soo in the head, seriously wounding her.
His last bullet went through a flag decorating the rear of the stage. Following its completion he picked up his wife"s handbag and shoes and left. Yuk was rushed to the hospital in Wonnam-dong, central Seoul.
Doctor Shim Bo-seong who was chief of the hospital"s neurosurgery department began operating on Yuk at 11 a.m. and which lasted for over five hours.
The bullet damaged the largest vein on the right side of her brain and remained lodged within the brain. Yuk"s blood type was Bachelor of Arts, which is a rare blood type and was in short supply in of Korea.
As a result, hospital staff had to obtain additional blood from other nearby hospitals and the Red Cross Blood Service. The surgery was unable to save her life and she died at 7:00 p.m. that same day.
She was buried in a state funeral on 19 August 1974.
Yuk Young-soo is buried next to her husband at the Seoul National Cemetery. Park composed the following poem the day after Yuk"s state funeral.