Former South Korean President's Daughter Heads Political Party

The Marmot blogs the election of Park Keun-hye as head of South Korea's opposition ("progressive conservative"!) Grand National Party.

Park, as you know, is the daughter of later dictator Park Chung-hee, father of modern South Korea. Park also served as First Lady after her mother, Yuk Yeong-su, was shot and killed during an assassination attempt on Park in 1974. She has been the recipient of much popular sympathy, first after the death of her very popular mother, and then following the successful assassination of her dad in 1979. Her base of support can be found in her home region of Daegu, where many still have fond feelings toward late President Park, and like her dad, she possesses a squeaky clean image as far as corruption is concerned, although like her dad, I'm not quite sure if that's deserved.

Fellow SK blogger Oranckay adds:

Anyway, the good news/bad news about Park is that as the daughter of the president of the developmental dictatorship she does not generally (fingers crossed!) have to work very hard to please conservatives with red-labeling and petty attacks. Her credentials are in order and she she'll never have her ideological inclinations questioned. On the other hand, she is not known for mental stability and much of an attention span.

Fortunately, the chance of a military coup is far smaller than it was in 1961--at least in the South.