October 26, 1979: The Assassination of Park Chung Hee

October 26, 1979: President Park Chung Hee of the Republic of Korea (a.k.a. "South Korea") is assassinated, shot by Kim Jae-gyu, director of the KCIA, the country's intelligence service, after a banquet at an alleged safehouse in the capital of Seoul. He was a few days short of turning 62.

Kim claimed that Park was an obstacle to democracy, and that his act was one of patriotism. He had a point: Park had been President since 1962, and since the nation was established in 1948 under Syngman Rhee, it had, essentially, been a dictatorship. Nevertheless, for his crime, Kim was hanged 7 months later.

Within a few years, South Korea would be a thriving democracy. In 2013, Park's daughter, Park Geun-hye, was elected President, the 1st popularly elected head of state in East Asia. But she was impeached for corruption, and was removed from office on March 10, 2017.

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October 26, 1979 was a Friday. Baseball season had ended 9 days earlier, when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-116 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 94-90 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons, 129-113 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. George Gervin scored 41 points.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Washington Bullets, 118-108 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Kansas City Kings, 116-104 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Otis Birdsong scored 35 in defeat for the Kings.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls, 95-93 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 92-86 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Hartford Whalers, 2-1 at the Springfield Civic Center (now the MassMutual Center) in Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Rockies played to a tie, 2-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.