Park was born on 2 February 1952, in Samdeok-dong of Jung District, Daegu, as the first child of Park Chung-hee, the third president of South Korea, who having come to power with the May 16 military coup d'état of 1961, served from 1963 until his assassination in 1979, and Yuk Young-soo. Both of her parents were assassinated. She has a younger brother, Park Ji-man, and a younger sister, Park Geun-ryeong. She is unmarried with no children. Pew Research Center described her as an atheist with a Buddhist and Roman Catholic upbringing.