Park Chung-hee's eldest grandson, Sehyeon, 20, will voluntarily enlist in the Marine Corps.
According to military sources on the 24th, Sehyeon will enlist on the 27th at the Marine Corps Education and Training Command in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, as a Marine Corps soldier in the 1,323rd intake.
Sehyeon is the eldest of four sons of Park Ji-man, 67, chairman of EG Co., and Seo Hyang-hee, 51. He was reportedly studying abroad in the United States.
In 2005, Park Geun-hye, then leader of the Grand National Party, learned of her nephew Sehyeon's birth during a party standing committee meeting. Park Geun-hye later visited the hospital and said it was "the joy of the whole family."
Park Geun-hye also wrote in her memoir that "if my father were alive, he would have been very pleased to see Sehyeon's antics."
Sehyeon is said to be seeking assignment to the Marine Corps Reconnaissance Unit. The Marine Corps Reconnaissance Unit is a special forces unit under the direct control of the Marine Corps Command that conducts special reconnaissance and counterterrorism missions deep behind enemy lines. Because it carries out special missions, its training intensity is high, and it is considered "the Marine among Marines."
Unlike his grandfather and father, who served in the Army, his decision to apply to the Marine Corps appears to be his own. Park Chung-hee, a four-star Army general, was discharged in 1963. Chairman Park Ji-man, a graduate of the 37th class of the Korea Military Academy, left the service in 1986 as a captain.