Books about president-elect popular

Park Geun-hye

Books about President-elect Park Geun-hye have come into the limelight, following her Dec. 19 victory, after being overshadowed by those of her former rivals Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo.

According to officials from online book store Yes24, her autobiography “Despair Trains Me and Hope Moves Me” saw the biggest increase in sales with 345 from Dec. 19 to 24. This compares with only 16 that sold between Dec. 12 and 18.

Among 80 books about Park, her autobiography, her essay “My Mother, Yuk Young-su” and “GH-nomics,” the most recent book about her pledges for the next administration, are the most popular.

“Seventy-two copies of the essay were sold from Dec. 19 to 24 after no sales from Dec. 12 to 18,” Yes24’s public relations director Park Se-mi said. “Park’s election victory brought unpopular books back to people’s attention.”

Eighty-five copies of “GH-nomics” have sold since it was published Friday, and the public relations director expects the number to grow.

Twenty-seven-year-old jobseeker Park Jae-hyun voted for Moon Jae-in but recently purchased “GH-nomics.”

“It seems like many people, especially my peers, know little about the President-elect. So, I just decided to learn about Park by myself,” he said.

“Whether you support her or not, she was elected as the president who will lead the country for the next five years. Thus, I think, it is important to know who she is because her decisions in the future will profoundly affect my future,” 20-year-old college student Eim Kyung-min said.

“To do this, knowing about her past seems like the best way to figure out what she wants to do during her five-year term.”

Moon and Ahn have also seen their books doing better since the election.

From Dec. 19 to 24, 531 copies of Moon’s memoirs “Moon Jae-in’s Destiny” were sold, up from 122 from Dec. 12 to 18. The former bestseller “Ahn Cheol-soo’s Thoughts” saw an increase in sales from 113 to 163 during the same period.

The election aftermath seems to be drawing public attention back to Park and Moon regardless of the result, Kim said.

President Lee Myung-bak’s autobiography appeared on bestseller lists of major book stores on the heels of his election victory in 2007. <The Korea Times/Jung Min-ho>