October Yushin

The October Yushin (Korean: 시월유신, Hanja: 十月維新, RR: Siwol Yusin) or October Restoration was an October 1972 South Korean self-coup in which President Park Chung-hee assumed dictatorial powers. Park had come to power as the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction after the May 16 coup of 1961, and in 1963 he won elections and assumed office as civilian president.

Background

July 4th North–South Joint Declaration

On May 4, 1972, the director of Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), Lee Hu-rak, went to North Korea and met Kim Il-sung. They announced the North-South Joint Declaration with the three principles of the reunification. After the declaration, a direct phone cable was installed between Seoul and Pyeongyang. Enthusiasm for reunification was heating up. Park used it as a pretext for the amendment of the constitution.

Third term of the presidency

Under the Third Republic's constitution, the president was limited to two terms in office. However, the National Assembly, dominated by Park's Democratic Republican Party, amended the Constitution in 1969 to allow a third term. He was re-elected in the 1971 presidential election.