hankyoreh

Two front-runners of the major opposition Grand National Party (GNP) officially registered their candidacies for the party primary Monday, dispelling concerns the ongoing heated competition between themselves might lead to a break-up of the popular party. Election law bans anyone participating in a political party primary from running on the ticket of another party later, even if he or she changes party affiliation.

Park Geun-hye, the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee, and former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak officially announced their presidential bids about 70 days before the primary race expected on Aug. 19 or 20. "I want to recreate the miracle of building up our country, the Republic of Korea, which was ruined by the incumbent government."

Park, a former chairwoman of the GNP, said in a news conference after registering her candidacy with party authorities.

Lee, a former Seoul mayor, also registered later in the day.

Park has been trailing Lee, the front-runner, in opinion polls for almost one year, but the gap has narrowed in recent months. In one survey released by the all-news cable television network YTN last week, the difference was 9.9 percentage points, down from 18.8 percentage points a month ago.

Three other GNP members are expected to register their candidacies this week, but pollsters say they stand little chance of winning the GNP ticket. The GNP is to elect its presidential nominee on Aug. 20 after holding nationwide one-day primary elections.

Recent opinion polls show that few non-GNP candidates have approval ratings higher than more than 10 percent, indicating the GNP nomination will likely be a sure bet to the presidency.

The pro-government Uri Party has been in disarray after dozens of lawmakers left it, believing the party has little chance of winning the presidential election.

Both Park and Lee accused President Roh Moo-hyun of pushing anti-business reform policies and pampering North Korea with too much aid. Both said that if elected, they would create a pro-business environment and initiate a harder line on the North.

"With a North Korea policy that has a principle, I will surely settle the North Korean nuclear dispute, restore peace, help the two Koreas develop together and establish a basis for unification," Park said.

Lee, a former Hyundai executive, vowed he will lead South Korea to become the world's 7th largest economy with an annual 7 percent of economic growth rate and US$40,000 per capita income.

"I will become a president who rebuilds the Republic of Korea and helps the people regain their lost smiles," Lee told reporters in a separate news conference.

Analysts attribute Lee's popularity to public expectations that he will address economic woes, making full use of his experience as a hard-driving chief executive officer and Seoul mayor. Dubbed "the bulldozer," Lee, 66, first earned national fame as the chief of the Hyundai construction unit, which was a key icon of South Korea's miraculous economic development in the 1960-70s, when Park's father was in power.

Park Chung-hee, who seized power through a 1961 coup, is still revered by many people for rebuilding South Korea's economy from the ruins of the 1950-53 Korean War, despite his authoritarian 18-year rule.

"I always feel sorry for those and their family members who were victimized and suffered hardships due to unfortunate events during my father's period," Park said. "I won't forget the only way I can compensate for their sufferings is to help South Korea blossom as a democracy and live in affluence."

She acted as first lady from 1974 after her mother, Yook Young-su, was shot and killed by a pro-Pyongyang Korean-Japanese assassin who had initially aimed for her father.

Park Geun-hye secluded herself from the public after her father was assassinated by his intelligence chief during an evening drinking party in 1979. About 20 years later, however, she made a dramatic return to politics by spearheading the victory of the New Korea Party, the predecessor of the GNP, in parliamentary elections.SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap News)