As a South Korean, I can firmly say that this is propaganda.
The country's rapid and flourishing economic growth is due to the military dictatorship.(You can see historical charts for the evidence)
Before any of them, the system was so chaotic. The "so-called" dictators unified the people to have a sense of patriotism that eventually gave them the incentive to work hard and live strong.
They were also the people who stood against the North Korean spies that intentionally tried to infiltrate into the system with Marxist ideologies.
The leaders during that time are still the most respected people in all Korean history.
Even during the most notorious Jun-doo-hwan period the economy rapidly progressed.
Unfortunately, during president Kim-Dae-Joong's period, people twisted history and defamed the previous dictators with propaganda.
This president was the person who won Korea's first novel peace prize for funding North Korea with billions of dollars. This money was eventually used for building the nuclear bombs. Yet, many people still think of this as a great feat.
In truth, it is shameful.
Dictator Park Chung-hee was killed by his own aide (Kim Jae-gyu), while drinking with his servants, when Kim somehow snapped and decided Park should no longer live, for the sake of the country. Another aide (Cha Ji-cheol), also killed by Kim, reportedly remarked shortly before the shooting:
> "캄보디아에 서는 300만 명 정도를 죽이고도 까딱 없었는데 우리도 데모대원 1∼200만 명 정도 죽인다고 까딱 있겠읍니까?" (Cambodia was fine after killing 3 millions. What's the problem if we kill a million or two of those demonstrators?)
Oh, years before he became a dictator, Park was also a member of the Southern Labor Party (남조선로동당), a secret communist organization that worked toward a Marxist revolution in South Korea. Make of that what you will.
Among his other crimes, he's also credited with Samchung Educational Camp (삼청교육대), which basically committed the same crimes reported in the "Brothers Home" in the article, but in a national scale.
Oh, by the way, Kim Young-Sam, who was a president (from a conservative party) before Kim Dae-joong, spent 3.2 billion dollars on North Korea... due to an international agreement (including the US and Japan) on building nuclear reactors in North Korea in exchange of NK giving up its nuclear arsenals. See: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A1%B0%EC%84%A0%EB%AF%BC%EC...
> 재원분담협상 결과 대한민국은 실 공사비의 70 %를 원화로 기여(46억 달러 기준으로 3조 5,420억원)하고 ...
Apparently, the difference from Kim Dae-jung's "Sunshine policy" is that under conservative governments, we only do the paying, and let the US decide everything on how to handle the situation. It's supposed to make us feel more secure.
In 1973, Park Chung-hee also tried to murder Kim Dae-jung, then a prominent opposition leader. Korean government agents kidnapped Kim in Japan (which predictably blew up into a big diplomatic scandal), and dragged him into a boat, blindfolded and bound, ready to throw him into water once they're far enough from the shore.
But somehow a ship or an airplane intervened. (It seems there are many conflicting accounts. Some say it was a ship from Japanese coast guards; Kim apparently remembers that the crew cried "There's an airplane!") Several sources say that CIA discovered Kim's kidnapping and alerted the Japanese government.
So, most likely CIA saved Kim Dae-jung from being murdered by Park. I'm usually not a fan of American foreign policy, but in this one case, I'm thoroughly grateful.
* It seems there's uncertainty on whether Park ordered the murder, or if it was planned by some overzealous officer. Well, they're all dead now, so we'll never know...
Unfortunately, during president Kim-Dae-Joong's period, people twisted history and defamed the previous dictators with propaganda. This president was the person who won Korea's first novel peace prize for funding North Korea with billions of dollars. This money was eventually used for building the nuclear bombs. Yet, many people still think of this as a great feat. In truth, it is shameful.