Kim Jaegyu - Yushin Constitution

Yushin Constitution

After his arrest, Kim wrote in Chinese calligraphy that it took seven years to accomplish his resolution, suggesting that the Yushin Constitution turned him against Park. In his trial, he claimed that he planned to detain Park if the latter were to visit the Third Army Group base on his annual tour of army groups and force his resignation. According to Third Army Group operations chief of staff Oh Soo-choon, who was also Kim's brother-in-law, Kim installed front-line fence around a small building in the base and set it up so that it would prevent exit from within rather than entry from without.

More significantly, Kim appears to have had a close relationship with Jang Jun-ha, widely respected leader of democracy movement as a former Liberation Army officer, opposition lawmaker, and publisher of monthly journal World of Ideology. According to Jang Ho-kweon, Jang's eldest son and current publisher of the journal, Jang told him that Kim was a patriotic soldier who would one day work together for democracy. In 1979, Kim claimed to his lawyer that his first attempt to assassinate Park was in September 14, 1974 when he was appointed to be Construction Minister. A newsreel of this event shows something protruding in Kim's pocket when he shook hands with Park. According to Rev. Yi Hae-hak, who was imprisoned with Jang Jun-ha when Jang was sentenced to fifteen years for petition campaign against Yushin Constitution, Jang knew of Kim's plan to assassinate Park and was very disappointed when it did not take place, uttering to himself, "Is it that great to be a minister?". After Jang died in a suspicious circumstance while climbing a mountain in 1975, Kim helped Jang's family financially in secret. When Kim later became KCIA director in 1976, he told Jang's son with deep regret that Jang's death was not accidental as officially announced but that the regime was involved.

According to Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan, another leading figure in democracy movement, Kim (then KCIA deputy director) came to see him whenever there was political crisis. In 1975, he asked Cardinal Kim to speak with President Park to come up with the "third way," that is, to somehow amend the Yushin Constitution in a way that was acceptable to Park. According to Cardinal Kim, Kim compared President Park to "a sick patient" who needed weak medicine initailly. Kim believed that the Catholic cardinal was the only person who could speak frankly to Park without repercussion and was disappointed when the talk was essentially fruitless. Kim's association with two key figures of democracy movement - Jang Jun-ha and Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan - led some to reconsider Kim's motive in assassinating Park.

As Construction Minister (1974–1976), Kim promoted the entry of Korean construction companies into Saudi Arabia, increasing South Korean export to the Middle East twentyfold from $45 million in 1973 to $900 million in 1976 and thus making South Arabia the fourth most important overseas market, which helped South Korea weather the 1973 oil crisis.