Park’s sentimental journey

President Park Geun-hye waves her hand to well-wishers on her way to Chongwadae, the presidential office, where she lived for 15 years as the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, after finishing the inauguration ceremony at the National Assemly on Feb. 25. (Photo : NEWSis)

Park Geun-hye was sworn in as the 18th-term President of this country last Monday (Feb. 25). As is well known, she is the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated by his close aide in October 1979. The course of her life leading to presidency has been filled with ups and downs hardly matched by those of other political figures. She had no other choice but to tread such a bumpy road, overcoming fear, uncertainty, and challenges on her own without adequate help of others. Her life story, dotted with historic events, proved to be more dramatic than any drama.

On her way to Chongwadae, the presidential office, after the inauguration ceremony, she must have been choked with emotion. Chongwadae is her old home, where she lived for 15 years as a member of the First Family. A lot of fond memories with her parents, brother and sister rest there. But, it is also the place where she tragically lost both of her parents. Five years earlier to President Park’s death, her mother was killed by an assassin’s bullet aimed at her father. Now she was returning to Chongwadae after more than 30 years away. Park seemed particularly emotional when she met with people living in the neighborhood shortly before reaching Chongwadae. It was a sentimental journey home for her.

She first moved into Chongwadae in 1964 at the age of 12. It was shortly after her father was elected president of the country. But, in November 1979, she had to move out of Chongwadae in grief some weeks after the national funeral for her father, assassinated by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). “I felt like I had fallen into an abyss of despair when I left Chongwadae,” she recalled in an interview some years ago. She was like a young bird who had fallen out of a warm nest into wildlife all of a sudden. She experienced two big bangs shaking her life while living in Chongwadae.

The first one came on Aug. 15, 1974 when her mother was shot by a North Korean agent while accompanying President Park in a National Liberation Day ceremony. At that time, 22-year old Geun-hye was studying in Paris following her graduation from Sogang University in Seoul. Park flew back in a pool of tears all the way to Seoul. She had to cut short her overseas studies and stay beside her father, performing the role of the First Lady in place of her deceased mother. It was too heavy a burden for a young lady to take. Gone was the best part of her life, the period of 10 years between 1964 and 1974 when she was under the loving care of her parents.

She met the second tragedy when she was 27. On the night of Oct. 26, 1979, her father was shot dead by his intelligence chief. She left Chongwadae for her private home without knowing what to do or what would become of her future. However, she managed to overcome her meteoric fall through sheer determination and led a quiet life for the next 18 years. Then she made a successful debut as a politician in 1997 when she was elected a member of the National Assembly.

The late President Park seized power by a military coup when Geun-hye was nine years old. His political opponents denounced him for being a dictator, abusing human rights and suppressing pro-democracy movements. However, he was also successful in leading Korea to an economic revolution that turned the poor agricultural country into an industrialized nation that eventually found itself among the leading economic powers in the world. Even his opponents cannot deny his contribution to the national economic development.

Park Geun-hye’s emergence in politics touched the chord of nostalgia for the late President Park among the people who remember him as one of the most respectable national leaders in Korea’s modern history. The people’s deep respect for him apparently served his daughter most strongly in leading her to be the President. They expect her to display the kind of vision, leadership and capability that her father exhibited through his 18 years of rule, expectation that President Park Geun-hye will have to deal with for the next five years.