Park outpaces 2 rivals on foreign policy

In 2-way race, Ahn, Moon lead: survey

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party was the strongest among the three main contenders for the presidency with regard to support for inter-Korean and foreign policy management  ability, a survey by The Korea Times and Hankook Research showed Wednesday.

The survey, conducted on the newspaper’s 62^nd anniversary, also indicated that Park would be ahead of Rep. Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo in a three-way race by a comfortable margin.

In a two-way race, Park would lose to either Moon or Ahn.

Predicting who would be the next president in the Dec. 19 ballot is a toss-up because of shifting factors such as whether Moon and Ahn can agree on a single candidacy, but Park comes out a runaway winner in the areas of dealing with ally the United States and potential foe China.

The Times’ poll says 42.3 percent of respondents cited Park as the right pick to upgrade the Korea-U.S. alliance.

Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) scored 21 percent, behind independent Ahn Cheol-soo with 27.1 percent.

Nearly four out of 10 Koreans believed that Park will also handle relations with China, Korea’s No. 1 trading partner, more effectively than her two rivals.

The poll was conducted by polling agency Hankook Research on Monday, 50 days ahead of the election. It has a plus or minus 3.1 percentage points margin of error.

Pollsters surveyed 1,000 people to get their opinions on a wide range of issues from foreign policy and North Korea to priorities for the next government.

Hahm Sung-deuk, a professor at Korea University in Seoul, told The Korea Times that Park’s extensive foreign policy experience has given her a strong reputation in the field.

“Park had official tours to many countries as either a special envoy or as a private citizen. This probably paved the way for her strong showing in foreign policy surveys,” the professor said.

In 2009, Park met Chinese leader Hu Jintao as a presidential envoy. Two years later, she was sent to the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal as an envoy to commemorate South Korea’s 50^th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the European nations.

Prof. Hahm said her five-year experience as an acting first lady after her mother Yuk Young-soo was assassinated in August 1974 also helped her build strong foreign policy credentials.

The first daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee met foreign leaders, their wives and distinguished guests under that capacity until Park was also assassinated in October 1979.

She is one of the few politicians to have had rare one-on-one talks with the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. In May 2002, she reportedly received a warm welcome from Kim when she visited the Stalinist state as a private citizen.

Compared with the Saenuri Party candidate, Prof. Hahm said, Moon and Ahn have had fewer opportunities to hone their foreign policy skills.

The Korea Times poll also found that Park was ahead of her two rivals when voters were asked which candidate they believe would handle multiracialism more effectively.

Park’s support stood at 33.6 percent, compared with Ahn’s 27.5 percent and Moon’s 25.7 percent.

Hahm said the ruling Saenuri Party’s pro-diversity policy probably played a role in cementing public perception.

The ruling Saenuri Party named Jasmine Lee as a proportional representation candidate for the National Assembly elections in April.

The Philippines-born citizen was selected as a lawmaker, becoming the first naturalized Korean to become a parliamentarian.

More than 1 million expats are living in Korea. Migrant workers and women who settled in Korea through cross-border marriages are among them.

In the face of growing needs for a tailored policy for the new voter group, candidates pledged pro-multiculturalism measures. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>