In November 1973, Mun Se-gwang finally decided to assassinate Park Chung Hee and, was paid 500,000 yen to prepare and implement his plan.

Stealing a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver from an Osaka police box on 18 July 1974, he concealed it in his luggage and flew to South Korea on 8 August 1974,[1] using a Japanese passport to enter the country.

A bullet fired by Park Jong-gyu [ko], one of the President's security detail, in response to Mun's attack ricocheted off a wall and killed a high school student, Jang Bong-hwa.

[1] During his interrogation, Mun confessed to have been aided in his bid to assassinate Park by an official of a North Korea aligned residents association in Japan.

[3] At the same time, North Korean officials made a statement that they were not involved in the assassination attempt, but they approved of it, calling Moon Se-gwang a "real communist.

"[This quote needs a citation] At the trial, Mun Se-gwang also expressed regret that he had failed to kill Park, and that an innocent schoolgirl had died because of his actions.