The ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye charged ahead with her campaign for national unity Tuesday while shunning her opponents’ calls to admit her links to the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation.

The former party chairwoman pledged to work on restoring the honor of the victims of the so-called Buma struggle of October 1979, when students and citizens of Busan and Masan took to the streets to protest the Yushin regime of former President Park Chung-hee, the candidate’s late father. Tuesday marked the 33rd anniversary of the resistance.

In the afternoon she also launched the Committee on People’s Grand Unity, tasked with promoting harmony amongst classes, regions and beliefs. Park capped off her schedule for the day by paying tribute to the slain pro-democracy activists of the 1960 revolution at the April 19 National Cemetery in northern Seoul.

“The time where a nation’s development automatically led to people’s happiness is now a bygone era. Now, each individual must realize their dreams to become happy. The sum of such happiness should then become the nation’s growth engine,” Park said in her congratulatory speech for a leadership forum held in Seoul. 

“The leadership needed in this era of turbulence and change is the leadership of unity.”

Park is expected to accelerate her unity tour throughout the rest of the month, timing her move with the anniversary of the Yushin declaration on Wednesday and the 33rd anniversary of her father’s death on the 26th.

Party sources said it is possible she could offer an apology to the victims of the political repression during the Yushin regime and the bereaved families of the victims of the “Inhyeokdang” case. Inhyeokdang refers to the arrest and execution of activists who were accused of violating the National Security Law by the Park government.

“Park Geun-hye had promised to exert her best efforts to recover the honor of those involved in the Buma struggle and the Saenuri Party will actively support her efforts,” said Rep. Lee Sang-il, the Saenuri Party’s spokesman.

“The People’s Grand Unity Committee chaired by Park will definitely achieve (the healing of the pain of the past for the sake of the future) and present measures that can be accepted by the people,” Lee said.

Park’s family background remains both her biggest asset and liability as she struggles to break her conservative mold and lure younger voters. An emotional apology on Sept. 24 for her father’s authoritarian rule was considered a big step for Park, but the move was quickly overshadowed by internal strife at her camp.

The latest setback to hit her campaign came upon news reports of backdoor discussions between the Jeongsu Foundation chief and a broadcasting station to use money from selling equity for donations in Busan and surrounding Gyeongsang Province areas. Opponents claimed it was a ploy to help Park’s campaign in a region key to the Dec. 19 presidential election. Park reiterated her position that she is no longer relevant to the Jeongsu Foundation’s activities.

The foundation is criticized for having been established by Park Chung-hee with the confiscated wealth of a local businessman.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)