President-elect to set new records

Park Geun-hye, left, presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party greets supporters at Busan Station, Tuesday, as her rival Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party stumps at Seoul Station ahead of Wednesday’s election. (Photo : Yonhap)

Whoever wins Wednesday’s election, he or she will rewrite Korean history as the two major candidates’ unique political and personal backgrounds will make them set new records in many ways.

If ruling Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye is elected, the 60-year-old will be the first female president in Korean history, which could come as a surprise to those outside the country who see it as a male-dominated society.

Park will also be the first second generation having successfully risen to power following her late father President Park Chung-hee, making the Park dynasty, the first of its kind in modern Korean history.

If this becomes a reality, the former five-term lawmaker will return to Cheong Wa Dae, 33 years after her departure from it in November 1979, nine days after her father’s funeral was over. President Park was assassinated on Oct. 26, 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, then the director of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency as well as his long-time friend.

If elected, Park will also be the first single president who has never been married. She will also be the first engineering major in the top job. Park majored in electronics at Sogang University in Seoul.

If her rival Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) is elected, he will be the first presidential chief of staff-turned-president. The 59-year-old will take office as also the first lawyer-turned-president in 10 years since his close friend and political comrade the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. Roh was sworn in as president in February 2003 after winning the 2002 presidential election.

Moon will also be recorded as the politician on the fastest-track to the top job. He joined the political arena this year as a lawmaker after winning the April 11 National Assembly election in the poor urban district of Sasang in Busan.

No matter who wins the race, either Park or Moon will be one of the many politicians originally from the nation’s eastern region of Gyeongsang Province. Park was born in the southeastern inland city of Daegu, whereas Moon’s home town is Geoje Island, near the port city of Busan.

Since former President Park, six out of seven presidents, including incumbent President Lee Myung-bak, are or were from the southeastern province. Half of them were from the southern part of the region, whereas the remaining half from the northern part.

Kim Dae-jung was the first and only president from the Jeolla Province, the rival region of Gyeongsang Province. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>