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2013년 5월 23일 목요일
In an intense final battle to assume office in the Blue House, it was the conservative Saenuri Party‘s frontrunner Park Geun-hye who eventually claimed victory last night. With a mere 3.6 percent difference in the total poll count against Moon Jae-in, this will come as a blow for the Democratic United Party (DUP), with the likes of software tycoon and former-candidate Ahn Cheol-soo‘s systematically calling for political reform within the Democratic Party.
The 2012 presidential election will also be remembered for many years to come as having one of the highest turnouts, the first to have a winner claim with over 50 percent of the vote count, but more importantly for having elected the republic’s first female president in a predominantly male-driven society.
Park’s family background too is far from ordinary. She is the daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee who is often hailed as having brought riches to the Korean economy, but also remembered for supressing, if not purging any opposition. And Park Geun-hye is no stranger to the Blue House, having acted as First Lady in the years following her mother’s assassination.In the run-up to December 19th, the Saenuri Party were plagued with allegations of unfair behavior, and attacked live on-air but both seem to have to failed to prevent loyal conservative voters.Throughout the day of December 19th, the Korean Internet exploded with activity and divided opinions, some welcoming new changes, while others feeling Korean democracy is regressing.
Park aide’s death resonates across politics
Lee Choon-sang, a long-time aide to presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, died on the campaign trail Sunday. The demise of the little-known politician seems to resonate across political spectrum amid the presidential election frenzy, creating a solemn moment of self-reflection for many politicians in the country.
A vehicle carrying Lee and five other camp staffers hit a pole near Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, while heading for Chuncheon, a nearby city where Park was canvassing.The deceased had been by Park's side for 15 years, ever since the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee first gained her parliamentary seat representing Dalseong County in Daegu.
For this election, he worked for her online campaign strategy that included social networking service activities.
"I am so sorry. I have no words to offer you," a tearful Park told Lee's widowed wife at his funeral hall Sunday.Later that day, the candidate confided her feelings on Twitter, which Lee used to manage on her behalf.
"My heart breaks for him who has selflessly and devotedly helped me for the past 15 years," reads the rare tweet from Park herself. "At the funeral altar, I extend my gratitude for the past years and pray for his soul to rest in peace.
"Some seem to be particularly saddened by the fact that Lee passed away less than three weeks before the Dec. 19 election. The chances of Park becoming the president look brighter than ever, with polls giving her a slight but clear lead over opposition contender Moon Jae-in.
"Few would understand what it is like to be a secretary for someone," Lim Jae-hyun, a long-time aide to President Lee Myung-bak wrote on his Facebook account, on the death of Lee, whom he has never spoken to."We have a dream, meet someone who can turn that into reality, and devote our life to help the boss realize the dream. Some are fortunate to see that dream finally come true, but most others are not," the Cheong Wa Dae official said.
Park canceled her official schedule for two days on Monday, as her camp observed a period of mourning, refraining from songs and dances.The Moon camp paused its offensive on the rival camp, while offering condolences to the family of the deceased.
By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com) ⓒKoreaHerald
Park Geun-hye announces presidential bid with jobs, welfare pledge.
Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party officially announced her bid Tuesday to become South Korea's first female president, pledging to promote a fair economy, expand welfare and improve relations with North Korea.
"I will devote my everything to make the Republic of Korea a country in which everybody can achieve their dreams," Park said at a press briefing in front of a popular shopping mall in western Seoul. It is the second bid for the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee to run for president after she narrowly lost to now President Lee Myung-bak in a 2007 party primary, who is barred from seeking reelection by law. Since then, the 60-year-old has commanded large leads over her rivals in opinion polls. Park is widely expected to clinch the party's nomination in its primary next month.
"Politicians have been mired in political fights and slandering without caring about matters related to people's livelihoods," Park told hundreds of supporters clad in red, the Saenuri Party's official color. "In my political career, I have kept my promises even if I suffer damage. I have fought to keep promises to the people and I will continue to do so in the future."
Park's election pledges centered on a fair economy, jobs and expanded social welfare in a marked shift to the left, compared with her 2007 pledge that promised small government with fewer taxes and regulations.
"Our economy has put too much emphasis on efficiency, overlooking the importance of fairness. As a result, gaps have widened and inequality worsened," Park told reporters at a press briefing. "We are confronted with the challenge of establishing a fair and transparent market principle to realize economic democratization."
"Economic democratization" has been the centerpiece of Park's campaign platform, although party officials and camp staff differ on the scope and pace of reform measures for the nation's large conglomerates, which were fostered by her father's export-driven development strategy.
Park vowed to eliminate "unnecessary regulations" in order to boost the economy, while implementing tougher rules to make large firms fulfill their social responsibility to realize her goal of fairness. She also promised to improve relations with North Korea.
"I will cut the vicious circle of distrust, confrontation and uncertainty to make the first step toward the new Korean Peninsula," Park said.
The unmarried politician has special appeal to many older people, who praise her father's charismatic leadership for achieving rapid economic development and lifting people from poverty in a generation.
"Park Geun-hye was in the Cheong Wa Dae for five years with her father, so she knows about politics," Jung Hyun-sung, 72, said, referring to the presidential office while showing an album of late President Park Chung-hee. "She doesn't have a husband, children, so she wouldn't commit corruption for them."
Park's supporters say they want her to be the next leader as she is well prepared to take the top office with her experience as a de-facto first lady after her mother was assassinated in 1974 when she was 22. Since then, Park stood by her father's side and played the first lady's role until the general-turned-president was killed by his spy chief in 1979.
"She learned from politics from an early age. She doesn't lie. Most politicians reverse their words, but she doesn't," Kim Jae-kyung, 70, said. "I believe she'll be a good president. As a woman, I want to see a female president in my lifetime."
But the disciplined, soft-spoken lawmaker is desperately seeking ways to get more support from younger, urban voters, who consider her father a dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist for 18 years, and are unhappy with the tight job market in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Ahead of her announcement, a group of college students staged a rally to demand Park make greater efforts to cut high tuition rates and provide more jobs to college graduates.
"If you want to become the next president, you have to first cut the tuition by half to help college students attend school without financial problems," said Ahn Jin-kul, a college student. "You have to first take care of youths who suffer from financial burden and the tight job market." During Tuesday's event, Park answered questions written on cards from participants and joined her supporters in singing upbeat songs in an attempt to shake off her aloof, aristocratic image.
Although she has long been in the public sphere, her private life has been veiled, even sparking curiosity as to why she has maintained the same hairstyle for decades.
"We picked this venue to allow more people to communicate with Park and have fun," said Cho Yoon-sun, the spokeswoman for Park's camp. "Our campaign will put a focus on communications."
By Kim Eun-jungSEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) -- Rep.
Park Geun Hye- South Korea"s rising political star
At 49, Park Geun Hye is the same age her mother was when she was cut down by an assassin"s bullet at a ceremony in 1974 to mark the anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Five years later her controversial father Park Chung Hee, who ruled South Korea for nearly two decades, was shot dead by his intelligence chief.That would be enough to keep most people out of public life. But the daughter felt duty-bound to enter politics and did so in 1998, when she won a by-election for the conservative Grand National Party in her home town of Taegu.
Just three years later she is a potential candidate for the next presidential election in December 2002--she would be the first South Korean woman to run for the top post. Helping her is a wave of nostalgia for her father"s iron-fisted rule, as President Kim Dae Jung"s popularity dissolves. "There"s an economic crisis, and Park"s popularity is a reaction to that," explains a GNP official.Park is cleverly exploiting public disillusionment with politics-as-usual. She symbolizes a return to old certainties for those old enough to remember her father. But her gender, relative youth and newness to politics suggest to disenchanted younger voters that she is the fresh face they crave. "Many people feel we"ve gone backwards," she says. "More money is put into elections than before and you still see mud-slinging."Though coy about her political ambitions, Park is under no illusion about her growing popularity. "People like me because of my parents," she says, with a polite insistence honed over five years as acting first lady after her mother was killed by a bullet meant for her father. His policy of state-guided capitalism brought prosperity to a war-ravaged country. But it also carries a darker legacy of human-rights violations, including the 1973 kidnapping of his arch-enemy, Kim Dae Jung, from a Tokyo hotel.South Koreans are consequently split in their regard for Park Chung Hee. But there"s no doubting his daughter"s loyalty.
Her parliamentary office is adorned with memorabilia relating to her father"s rule.Park knows her pedigree could help make her South Korea"s first powerful female politician in a strongly patriarchal society. To that end she is wooing powerful politicians who made their names during her father"s time. Kim Jong Pil, a relative who helped launch the 1961 coup that allowed her father to become president in 1963, was visited in early April.She also met former President Kim Young Sam, who opposed her father"s regime. In South Korea"s intensely regional politics, Kim Jong Pil can deliver votes in South Chungchong province. And despite his failure to sidestep the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Kim Young Sam can get out the vote in South Kyongsang province. Park has a lock on votes in her home province of North Kyongsang.If she decides to run for president next year it could mean trouble for GNP leader Lee Hoi Chang, who was born in North Korea and therefore has no support-base to speak of. "The most likely scenario is that she decides to run for the GNP nomination," predicts Robert Fouser, a commentator on Korean politics at Kagoshima University in Japan. "If Lee loses the nomination, she wins the election in a landslide."But toppling Lee won"t be easy. It"s no surprise, then, that the latest rumour Park has had to deny is that she plans to create a new party with independent lawmaker Chung Mong Joon, son of recently deceased Hyundai founder Chung Ju Yung. Park"s hold over her diehard supporters would make her a handy addition to a new movement. Indeed, even if she doesn"t run, Park may well get to appoint the next president."She"ll be pivotal.
Whoever gets her support will carry one of the country"s most populous areas," explains Hahm Chai Bong, a political science professor at Yonsei University. Park believes her gender won"t be an issue: "My father had a firm sense of duty and I"ve inherited that quality." If she"s to survive the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign, she"ll have to demonstrate some of his famous toughness as well.
John LarkinFar East Economic ReviewIssue cover-dated May 24, 2001
2013년 5월 2일 목요일
Park Geun-hye After The GNP
And so Assembly woman Park Geun-hye has finally bolted from the Grand National Party. Given certain issues within the party and her statements and reactions to them, her decision was more or less expected. In the press conference at which she announced her departure, she said that the GNP had the opportunity to either become a "democratic political party" or "a party with one leader," but that it had "made a unfortunate choice," essentially blaming the party for her defection. In other words, she is leaving because the GNP chose not to adopt her proposal for a "group leadership" as it approaches the presidential election.
When a politician makes certain choices about their political course of action, there will be both personal and public reasons for the decisions made. One's political goals and desires and the ability to make choices about them are something that is personal, and here it is one's motivation that is most important. It is a public issue as well because choices made bring about certain situations that require one to bear responsibility for the results. Park's personal reasons for her decision is not for anyone to debate. But everyone should be able to discuss what her departure will mean for Korean politics, and what she may have to bear responsibility for.
To begin with, that talk about a complete makeover of the political landscape could now suddenly turn into the hottest topic in town. This could mean that a presidential election that was about to be a contest between the Millennium Democratic Party and the Grand National Party could be turned into something else.
Park's departure could also turn into a test of GNP President Lee Hoi-chang's political leadership and capability. Though it is too hard to tell whether the effect will be large or small, it will be interesting to see how her breakaway affects the opposition party. One surely thinks that when she made a decision that relates so directly to her political career, she certainly must have considered the public and private concerns involved, and that she gave ample consideration as to the responsibility she will be made to bear as the results become clear.
source : The Chosun Ilbo.
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