Park’s dramatic life before becoming the nation’s most influential female politician


As the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, Rep. Park Geun-hye experienced firsthand the rise and fall of one of the nation’s most influential leaders all before she turned 30.

Described since her early days as modest, calm, but too serious for her age, Park’s profound respect for her ill-fated parents has been the backbone of her character and fortitude.

Now as the presidential nominee of the ruling Saenuri Party, Park faces what may be her biggest challenge: to make discerning evaluations of the 18-year rule by her father.

Most of the contentions about her presidential qualifications revolve around the sheltered life of her and her family. They include: irregularity allegations surrounding her younger sister and brother; a questionable relationship with late pastor Choi Tae-min since the death of her mother Yook Young-soo; and the operation of Jeongsu Foundation criticized for being forcibly seized by Park Chung-hee and still allegedly under Park’s influence.

As dramatic as her life is, two starkly contrasting perceptions follow her: one of empathy toward the orphaned first daughter of a president who led the nation’s rapid industrialization from the ruins of the Korean War (1950-1953); and another of historical condemnation for the violent suppression of democracy by her father.

Young Park Geun-hye

Park was born on Feb. 2, 1952, as the first child of Park Chung-hee and Yook Young-soo in Daegu. It was a second marriage for Park, and the first for Yook. The family, which expanded to five with the birth of sister Geun-ryeong in 1954 and brother Ji-man four years later, settled in a single-story Japanese-style home in Shindang-dong, Seoul, in 1958.

During that time, Park led a moderately normal life. Teachers from her elementary school wrote on her report card that young Park was “sincere,” “humble,” “diligent,” and “exemplary to others.”

It was in her childhood that she took up the habit of writing everything down in her notepad that would later earn her the nickname “Notebook princess.”

In her autobiography “Despair trains me and hope moves me” published in 2007, Park wrote, “Since we moved into Shindang-dong, Mom allowed me to play outside as much as I wanted during the daytime, but always made me write in a diary and look back on my day.”

In 1961, the May 16 military coup d’tat occurred under the leadership of Park Chung-hee. He became the military junta leader for two years and was named the 5th president in 1963.

The family moved into Cheong Wa Dae. Park recalled that a spacious garden at the presidential home was the best playground for her and her siblings.

But it was not until later she lived with her family as she was sent to live with her grandmother until she graduated from her elementary school that was now quite far from Cheong Wa Dae. The decision was by her mother who did not wish Park to commute to school by car at such a poverty-stricken time.

She described her life in Cheong Wa Dae in her book as suffocating, saying, “In Cheong Wa Dae, there are so many things that you must not do.”

As she entered high school, Park grew keen on learning foreign languages. “Language was a means to enhance the quality of my life,” she said. Park is now said to speak English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

Although her mother had wanted her to major in history, Park entered Sogang University with a major in electronic engineering in 1970. Park told her father she wanted to be a part of the country’s budding industry.

She led a relatively quiet life in college, concentrating on studying.

In 1972, Park Chung-hee pushed ahead with the Yushin Constitution, an amendment to the national statute, in October.

Although Park did not specifically describe the time in her memoire, she recalled encountering a classmate who told her he was going to participate in a demonstration against her father’s rule.

“While there were demonstrations on one side, the school campus was generally peaceful … The best I could do was to focus on my school and studies,” Park wrote. Her only aberration during her college days was when she dodged the watch of her security guard and went to Myeongdong to roam around the streets, drink tea and watch a movie.

Life as first lady

Tragedy struck Park when she was studying in Grenoble, France, in 1974 after graduating from college.

Park was taking a trip with her friends when she was called in by the Korean Embassy. The officials did not immediately let her know that Yook Young-soo was shot to death by pro-North Korean Moon Se-kwang during a Liberation Day celebration event.

It was at the airport on the way back home that she saw a newspaper with the picture of her mother on the front page.

“It was a shock as if tens of thousands of voltage passed through my whole body. Pain engulfed me like a knife deeply thrust into my heart,” Park said.

At the age of 22, Park became the country’s first lady, accompanying her father on various events, greeting diplomatic delegations, and continuing the medical service campaign started by her mother.

By taking the role of first lady, Park accumulated her knowledge on diplomacy and national security by discussing them with her father.

“Just as how a child of a father who is a painter learns the artistic flair faster than others, I learned the diplomatic sense and important skills to maintain good relations with the leaders of other countries through my father,” Park wrote in her book.

A well-known incident highflighting Park’s diplomatic panache was during the summit meeting between Park Chung-hee and then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The two countries were at odds over Washington’s troop withdrawal plan. While seated aside from the summit meeting, Park told U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter of the need for the U.S. troops to stay as the country was only just emerging from the ruins of the war and faced persistent threats from North Korea. Rosalynn Carter reportedly said later that the conversation with young Park that was relayed to her husband helped solve the issue.

Seclusion and Park Chung-hee’s assassination

At around 1 a.m. on Oct. 27, 1979, Park was awakened by a phone ringing. Her father’s chief secretary told her when she came out, “Mr. President has passed away.” It is a famous tale that the first thing she said in response was “How is the front unit,” mindful of any impact the death of her father might have on relations with North Korea.

Marshal law was declared.

Park tended to the nine-day funeral for her father, who was shot to death by his intelligence chief.

Alone, Park wailed while washing his bloody tie and shirt, just as she had when she washed the bloodied hanbok worn by her mother five years ago.

At the age of 27, Park returned to their Shindang-dong house with her sister and brother in November 1979.

Park describes her 18-year life outside Cheong Wa Dae until her political debut as a “long and lonely journey.”

To her sister’s divorce and her brothers’ alleged use of drugs later, Park reportedly told her associate, “When looking at my siblings straying after losing both parents to the bullet, I come to wonder whether they are the normal ones and I am the abnormal one.”

She mainly stayed out of spotlight during the 5th Republic when criticism of her father and his rule hit full stride. She, instead, focused on serving as the director at Youngnam University Foundation (1980-1988) and chairman of the board of Yookyoung Foundation (1982-1990). After the 5th Republic, Park continued her activities by heading the board of the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation (1994-2005).

Park came to the fore in the late 1980s, determined to restore her father’s honor. She held interviews with newspapers and television, launched a memorial project for her father, and released a book and a movie aimed at redeeming her father’s accomplishments.

As she entered her 40s, political circles suggested she join them. But she refused saying she was content with her quiet life. She wrote, “Power is futile as it disappears like wind.”

Park, however, says she remained alert and concerned about the nation’s state by closely following the media reports.

Park as a politician

Park has said she changed her mind to join politics upon the 1997 foreign exchange crisis.

“I decided to walk on the road of politician Park Geun-hye as I was startled that all the things that the preceding generations had accomplished could go up in smoke upon the crisis,” Park said in her autobiography.

Park began her political career by supporting then-presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party. The following year, she successfully ran in the by-election for a parliamentary seat representing Dalseong of Daegu.

Park became the party’s vice-president after a heated competition against her male colleagues, turning down an automatic allocation of the post for a female member.

“I realized then that the post designated for a woman as a preferential condition was in fact a hurdle for a woman candidate in elections. This problem still remains a dilemma for women politicians,” Park wrote.

Ahead of the 2002 presidential election, Park criticized the party’s one-man system under Lee Hoi-chang and demanded an introduction of an open primary. When her demand was not met, she left the party and launched her own, sparking more speculation that she had presidential candidacy on her mind.

The same year, Park was also invited by North Korea, where she met one-on-one with Kim Jong-il. She described the Kim’s style of speech and attitude was impressive.

Citing that the GNP had accepted all her demands and that she wished to help the party once again for the sake of the country, Park rejoined the GNP a month before the presidential election in 2002. The 200 million won she received from Lee Hoi-chang in the process was later placed under scrutiny. She explained the money was an official fund for campaigns.

After failure in the 2002 election, the GNP suffered a major setback upon the prosecution’s full-fledged probe into its illegal political funds, as well as the backfired move to impeach then-President Roh Moo-hyun. By moving the party’s headquarters into a tent and pledging political reform as the newly-elected chairwoman, Park successfully helped her party win 121 seats in the general elections in 2004, proving her political gambit as “election queen.”

Until she stepped down as chief in 2006, the GNP won in all elections, leading to a total of eight resignations of the rival ruling party leaders.

On May 31, 2006, she was attacked by an assailant with a shaving knife during a campaign rally, which left her with an 11 centimeter-long gash on her chin that required 60 stitches. Her doctor had said her life would have been risked if the cut was just 1 centimeter deeper.

Buoyed by solid partisan clout, Park threw her presidential bid in 2007, going against then-candidate Lee Myung-bak.

Lee, however, led ahead of her with his economy-oriented pledges, while gathering solid conservative votes with his opposition to the administrative city move.

She eventually lost to Lee in the primary in August.

Park turned down Lee’s proposal soon after his election to become his prime minister and their tense relations continued. Pro-Park members were excluded from the 2008 general elections nomination list. The widened fissure led to a defection of some 14 pro-Park lawmakers who launched their own party named “Pro-Park Alliance.”

Park and Lee’s confrontation peaked between 2009 and 2010 over the government’s move to revise the Sejong City administrative relocation, until in 2011 when the party suffered a heavy setback with defeat in the Seoul mayoral race to an independent, along with a series of scandals involving the party’s key members leading to a resignation by the leadership including chairman Hong Joon-pyo.

The party once again turned to Park for help, and she became the head of an emergency committee and spearheaded drastic party reform including a name change to the Saenuri Party. Under Park’s leadership, the party won a surprise victory against the Democratic United Party in the 2012 general elections by securing a majority 152 seats.

In her acceptance speech as the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate on Aug. 20, Park said, “My life has been the Republic of Korea. I will take this grave responsibility given to me for the last time in my life and step forward with the people.”

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