Court orders retrial of ex-spy chief who assassinated then President Park Chung-hee in 1979

This undated file photo shows former Intelligence Chief Kim Jae-gyu, right, who was sentenced to death in 1979 for assassinating then President Park Chung-hee Seoul. Yonhap

The Seoul High Court said Wednesday that it has decided to retry the case of former spy chief Kim Jae-gyu, who was convicted in 1979 for assassinating then President Park Chung-hee.

The decision came about five years after a family member of Kim requested a retrial of Kim's case, seeking that an insurrection charge on him be cleared.

This undated file photo, provided by the Army, shows former Intelligence Chief Kim Jae-gyu. Yonhap

Kim, the former head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, assassinated Park and Cha Ji-cheol, head of the presidential security service, on Oct. 26, 1979, during a private dinner party and was sentenced to death and executed in May 1980.

The court said it found grounds for a retrial after determining that investigators had tortured and assaulted Kim during the investigation.

The court's decision also came after it conducted a monthslong review since its first hearing over the case last April.

The retrial will take place as ideological debates persist over Park's 18-year dictatorship that ended with his assassination.

Conservatives credit Park for the country's fast economic growth, while liberals denounce him as a strongman who cracked down on political opponents and infringed on people's basic rights. (Yonhap)