Park's mother was killed on 15 August 1974 in the National Theater of Korea; Mun Se-gwang, a Japanese-born ethnic Korean sympathizer of North Korea and member of the Chongryon, was attempting to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. Park was regarded as First Lady until the assassination of her father by his own intelligence chief, Kim Jae-gyu, on 26 October 1979. During this time, activists who were political opponents of her father claimed to be subject to arbitrary detention. Further, human rights were considered subordinate to economic development. In 2007, Park expressed regret at the treatment of activists during this period.