development of several key industries: steel, petrochemicals, automobiles, machine tools, shipbuilding, and electronics. Park enlisted the chaebols, the large family-owned conglomerates, as they possessed the capital to develop these industries. The Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive, which successfully developed heavy industry in South Korea, came at the cost of severe political and social repercussions. Wildcat strikes from the industrial working class and student protests against Park became increasingly frequent due to his undelivered promises of democratization, and are believed to have contributed to his assassination in 1979. Environmental damage and industrial accidents caused serious health issues, with one notable phenomenon known as Onsan illness, a pollution disease affecting people around Onsan, a town on the outskirts of the major city of Ulsan. Increased oil prices set by oil-rich Middle Eastern countries put pressure on the economic development of South Korea's heavy industry, but South Korean construction companies became highly active in the Middle East and saw an influx of foreign currency from these countries. The first reactor of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant near Busan began commercial operation in 1978. International relations A variety of events in international diplomacy led the Park regime to reconsider its diplomatic position. Notable were the normalization of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, which cast doubt on South Korea's ability to count on Cold War backing from the United States. The South Korean government began to establish diplomatic relations with many countries, such as Canada. In addition, the first round of Red Cross talks were held between South Korea and North Korea. Park also announced plans for eventual reunification. Society In December 1974, The Dong-a Ilbo, one of the largest newspapers in South Korea, and its subsidiaries began to release media with empty advertisement slots in protest against Park's strict censorship laws. The Dong-a Ilbo had a long history of defying and protesting the authoritarian governments in Korea, and had been in dispute with Park since he led the Supreme Council of National Reconstruction. The Korean Central Intelligence Agency began to force The Dong-a Ilbo'''s main advertisers to withdraw, and the company relied on small advertisers until it was eventually pressured by the government into ending its protest campaign seven months later. The incident resulted in employees being dismissed, many of whom co-founded the popular newspaper The Hankyoreh''. In 1975, Park ordered the homeless to be removed from the streets of Seoul, and