During the wedding, photos of the bridegroom's past were shown to the guests. He choked back tears as he looked at some pictures of him smiling next to his parents. After the wedding, the couple visited the National Cemetery and paid their respects to the couple.

The marriage was made possible after the young Park quit drugs. He has also become a successful businessman and no longer seems stuck in the tragic past. His elder sister, Park Geun-hye, is also working hard to regain the family's glory. As president of the largest opposition party, she is seen as one of the strongest contenders for the next presidential election, slated for 2007.

During the wedding Park Geun-hye often stood next to the bridegroom, occasionally holding his hand, as if together, they were going to rebuild the fallen family.

The former president would have enjoyed the wedding, if he had still been alive. However, the public still has mixed feelings over Park Chung-hee. On one hand, he is a national hero who built the South Korean economy, now the world's 12th largest, from scratch. His clear vision and leadership were behind this remarkable growth.

But, on the other, he still represents the dark legacy of authoritarian rule. For 18 years, he ran the country with an iron fist, suppressing human rights and jailing dissidents. His contribution to national economic growth is offset by the destructive consequences of his dictatorship.

One thing is certain: Park Chung-hee left behind a country that turned poverty into prosperity within one generation. Democracy in South Korea is now as dynamic as any in the world. His son's ordeals of the past are, in fact, a strong testimony to South Korea's supremacy over North Korea, where a third-generation dynastic succession is talked about, despite the fact that its people are starving.