by STEVEN BOROWIEC
Park Geun-Hye was forced into the role of South Korea’s first lady when her mother was assassinated. PHOTO/Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA/Guardian
South Korea’s most popular politician, Park Geun-hye, announced on July 10 that she will run for the country’s presidency in December’s national election, when she could become Northeast Asia’s first female head of state. If she does make it to the president’s office, no one is sure what kind of leader she’d be, and the fact of her gender isn’t having the type of political echoes one might expect.
In her announcement speech, Park made the kind of fluffy political promises expected of someone in her position. She thanked supporters for giving her the strength to conquer life’s challenges. “I was able to overcome all difficulties because of your support,” she told the crowd.
She is the daughter of former South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee and took on the duties of first lady at age 21 when her mother was killed in an assassination attempt on her father, who was murdered by an associate five years later, in 1979.
…
“She’s not a good listener,” said Kim Hee-jung, a 36-year-old mother who attended the event on Tuesday. “Her policies are too abstract and may not be practical.”
In Tuesday’s appearance, Park did make something of a platform proposal by highlighting three areas of importance: economic democratization, job creation and social welfare. These will all be popular with an electorate that is concerned with inequality and unemployment.
Those aren’t issues that have always been championed by Park. When she last sought the presidency in 2007, she cast herself as a Korean Margaret Thatcher, a champion of business and small government. These choices show her propensity to adapt to changes in public sentiment.
Asia Times Online for more