Park Geun-hye, the daughter of a former South Korean authoritarian president, was nominated as the ruling party’s presidential candidate Monday, becoming the first woman in the country to be chosen to run for president.
She is the eldest daughter of strongman Park Chung-hee, a controversial figure in South Korea who seized power in a military coup in 1961 and was assassinated in 1979.
During the ruling right-wing Saenuri Party’s primary, Park garnered nearly 84 percent of the vote among five presidential contenders, reported the Yonhap News Agency.
“I plan to herald in a new era of unity of all people,” she said, according to Yonhap.
Park, who has served five terms as a legislator, said that if she is elected she will push to deal with government corruption, create more jobs, and more democratization.
“I will be stricter on myself and people close to me,” she said, according to the Korea Times. “I will introduce a special inspection system to prevent corruption committed by those in power and their relatives.”
More importantly, Park said that she would tackle the growing between the wealthy and the poor.
“I will create a society where there is no discrimination between regular workers and non-regular workers, and those who are economically vulnerable will also get a fair chance,” she said.
Current President Lee Myung-bak is not eligible to run for office.
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