Park Geun-hye casts her dice

Ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye leaves a press room at the party’s headquarters in Seoul, Monday. She offered an apology to those who suffered or were persecuted during the 17-year iron-fist rule of her late father Park Chung-hee. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

Painted into a corner, Saenuri candidate apologizes for father’s legacy

Senior conservative journalist Cho Gab-je Monday criticized Rep. Park Geun-hye for “spitting on her father’s grave.”

Her late father and Army general-turned-President Park Chung-hee challenged anybody to do just that, while pressing ahead with his dictatorial development policies at the cost of human rights when Korea was very poor.

Even if the senior Park turns in his grave by the act of filial impiety by the last person he thought would do so, it appeared to be an inevitable choice by Park, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate who is being painted into a corner because of her father’s legacy.

During a news conference at the ruling party’s headquarters in Seoul, Park named three controversial events ― the May 16 military coup in 1961, the constitutional revision in 1972 and a fabricated spy ring scandal in 1974 ― one by one.

“The three cases resulted in destroying the spirit of the Constitution and held back the political development of this country,” she said. “I offer my sincere apologies to the victims of the incidents and the families in the three cases.”

Park’s fresh apology over the political events comes as her frontrunner position is becoming shaky with her two rivals’ ratings jumping as a three-way race has emerged.

Her remarks indicated a shift in position on those cases, as she said previously that historians would judge what happened under her late father’s rule in a fair and unbiased manner.

“In politics, the ends cannot justify the means. This democratic value has proved to be true in the past and should continue to be respected in the future as well,” Park said.

The 60-year-old politician pledged efforts to set up a task force to deal with the tragic history tainted by political repression and abuses of human rights to heal the trauma of the victims and integrate them into the community.

A grim-faced Park made concessions on her stance on the controversial political legacy of the late President Park Chung-hee as polls found that she is not the frontrunner in the presidential race any more.

In public opinion surveys taken by four polling agencies, Park was behind Ahn Cheol-soo in a hypothetical two-way race. Among the four pollsters, Park trailed Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), although the margin was narrow.

Her falling ratings prodded the Park camp to come up with a card that can counter the trend. The news conference was convened suddenly Sunday night.

Park’s comments come after surveys found previous remarks on her father’s rule fanned sentiment against her among voters.

Six out of 10 respondents said Park should make an apology for her father’s controversial political legacy, according to a KBS poll released Sunday.

Campaign watchers said Park remaining relatively silent about political repression while her father was in power has undermined her support.

And the anxiety became a reality as her ratings have fallen while support for her two rivals has surged.

During the speech, Park revealed the agony of being critical of her father’s political legacy.

“I am standing here not as the daughter of my father, but as a presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party. I am here to let you know my position on the past affairs as it surfaced as a controversy recently,” she said.

Park acknowledged that the miraculous economic growth of the Korean economy during the industrialization period came at the expense of workers’ sacrifices and their human rights.

“Defending national security from North Korea’s constant threat back then also came with the abuses of human rights of innocent people by the government authorities.”

The ruling party presidential candidate recalled that her father knew that he would be criticized by future generations because his economic growth first strategy at the expense of democracy and human rights was destined to backfire.

Park quoted her father as saying that “There should be no such unfortunate military man like me” after he led the May 16 military coup.

“My father even said ‘spit on my grave’ during the Yushin period.” <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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