Learn How to Pronounce Park Chung-hee | YouPronounce.it

How to Pronounce Park Chung-hee

Quick Answer: In Korean, the name Park Chung-hee is pronounced [paktɕʌŋçi].
(Listen to the audio below for the stress and intonation)

Meaning and Context

Park Chung-hee, a pivotal and controversial figure in modern Korean history, was a military officer who seized power in a 1961 coup d'état and subsequently served as the authoritarian President of South Korea from 1963 until his assassination in 1979. His nearly two-decade rule, known as the Third Republic and later the Fourth Republic under the highly centralized Yushin Constitution, is characterized by a profound duality: rapid industrialization and economic development often termed the "Miracle on the Han River," and severe authoritarian rule marked by political repression, human rights abuses, and the suppression of democracy. Park's government implemented a series of Five-Year Plans that propelled the nation from postwar poverty to an industrial powerhouse, focusing on export-oriented growth, heavy industry, and infrastructure like the Gyeongbu Expressway. However, this transformative economic development was achieved under a tightly controlled military dictatorship that curtailed civil liberties, leading to a legacy that remains deeply divisive in South Korean society, celebrated by some for foundational growth and condemned by others for its autocratic methods.

Common Mistakes and Alternative Spellings

The name "Park Chung-hee" follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, the official system used in South Korea since 2000. Common alternative romanizations from older systems include Park Chung-hee (McCune-Reischauer) and less frequently, Pak Chŏng-hŭi. A frequent typo or misspelling involves the hyphen, resulting in "Park Chung hee" or "Park Chunghee." The given name is also sometimes incorrectly rendered as "Chunghee" or "Chung Hee." In non-Korean contexts, the family name "Park" is occasionally mistaken for the English word for a recreational area, but it is the correct romanization of the common Korean surname 박. Care should be taken to include the hyphen and maintain the correct capitalization.

Example Sentences

Historians continue to debate whether Park Chung-hee's authoritarian measures were a necessary price for South Korea's unprecedented economic ascent.

The Yushin Constitution promulgated by Park Chung-hee in 1972 effectively granted him unlimited presidential power.

Many of the chaebol conglomerates that dominate the Korean economy today trace their exponential growth to the state-led industrial policies of the Park Chung-hee era.

His assassination in 1979 by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-gyu, plunged the nation into a period of political turmoil.

For visitors to Seoul, the former residence and now museum of Park Chung-hee, located in Sindaebang-dong, offers a complex glimpse into the life of the man who shaped modern Korea.

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