Park Geun Hye of the New Ruling Frontier Party began a new chapter in South Korean history as she emerged as the victor of the 2012 presidential race. Park, 60, is the daughter of Park Chung-Hee, South Korea’s most notorious dictator. She narrowly beat her opponent, candidate Moon, leading with 51.6% while Moon was on 48%. Moon, a former human rights lawyer from the Democratic United party, congratulated her on her victory.
Despite the outcome, this race has proved to be a most difficult one for Park. Having grown up in a wealthy household, she had to overcome the resentment towards her privileged background. Taking a look at the voters’ comments, it was clear that the people were worried about Park’s possible indifference toward poverty. “…she has never had to worry about book costs, college funds…”, commented a South Korean citizen on Facebook.
In addition, she was “shadowed by her family legacy”. He father, former president Park Chung-Hee, had seized power by a military coup in 1961. He ruled until he was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979. While he is credited with boosting South Korea’s economy greatly, he is also remembered as a dictator who cruelly crushed dissent and delayed democratic reforms. Even though Park Geun-Hye issued a public apology in September for her father’s human rights abuses, she also described his 1961 coup as necessary. This alerted some of the young voters.
With the country experiencing high youth unemployment rate and a growing wealth gap, Park has said she will work to welfare schemes and create jobs. She has also promised to”safeguard the nation against external threats”. She cited North Korea’s “provocations and nuclear threats” as well as territorial disputes with other nations, a reference to the current breach with Japan over the ownership of islands in the Sea of Japan. She further added that she would new era of peace and co-operation in northeast Asia.
