Park Chung-hee served as the third president of South Korea from 1963 until he was assassinated in 1979 by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). Park had been a controversial political figure in Korea. During Park's presidency, he had sustained the rapid economic growth in South Korea which people often refer to as the Miracle on the Han River. On the other hand, he had been an authoritarian dictator who oppressed opposition parties and civil liberties.