Four South Korean women were placed on Newsweek’s list of 150 fearless women recognized as pioneers in their fields.

According to the online edition of the news magazine on Monday, the four are Park Geun-hye, leader of the ruling Saenuri Party; Kim Sung-joo, CEO and chairperson of Sungjoo Group and MCM Holdings AG.; Lee Gil-ya, president of Gachon University; and Romi Haan, CEO of Haan Corp.

Park Geun-hye was listed as a four-term lawmaker and front-runner among potential presidential candidates.

Kim Sung-joo was recognized for “working her way into fashion from the bottom up,” from Bloomingdales to the old German brand MCM.

Romi Haan was credited for “paving the way for female entrepreneurs” as she built up a multimillion-dollar houseware company from starting a small steam cleaner company.

Lee Gil-ya, 80-year-old president of Gachon University, was introduced as a pioneer of medicine, becoming a doctor in 1957 when female doctors were rare, and later founding the Gachon University of Medicine and Science, which is well-known for neuroscience research.

Newsweek lists 150 women who shake the world every year, but this year they selected women who pioneered in their work.

Others on the list include actress Angelina Jolie, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Myanmarese democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi and German Chancellor Angel Merkel.

U.S. women took the lion’s share of the list with 52.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)