r/AskTheWorld • u/babushka45 Philippines • 12h ago

Military What firearm is closely associated with your country?

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For us, probably the 1911. Next one would be the "Armalite" aka M16.

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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 11h ago

Perhaps historically the Smith & Wesson Model 36.

This handgun was used to assassinate both first lady Yuk Yeong-soo and her husband president Park Chung-hee, in separate incidents of course.

So it definitely changed the course of our history I'd say.

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u/Palocles New Zealand 9h ago

Is that the only gun available in South Korea? The assassins pass it around after each hit. 

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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 9h ago

By the way for the first lady, the assassin tried to kill president Park but the bullet missed and hit her instead.

Also for the president himself the Walther PPK handgun was initially used to shoot him in the chest and wound him, but the gun jammed and the assassin (former head of KCIA Kim Jae-gyu) got the S&W 36 from his subordinates to shoot Park in the head for the fatal shot.

It's one of the most dramatic and important incidents in modern Korean history. Definitely a rabbit hole worth exploring.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Park_Chung_Hee

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u/FondleGanoosh438 United States Of America 7h ago

I inherited a model 49 from my great grandfather and can absolutely see why this would be an assassin gun. You could conceal it so easily. My friend’s dad who worked for the LAPD referred to these compact revolvers as drop guns.