hankyoreh

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

Park Geun-hye keeps changing her characterizations of the 1961 military coup that put her father Park Chung-hee in power.

The New Frontier Party’s likely presidential candidate is treading very lightly, but nothing appears to have changed in her fundamental belief for more than two decades that the episode, popularly referred to as “May 16” in South Korea after the date on which it occurred, was a “revolution to save the country.”

Park avoided any specific language on the nature of the 1961 episode during a debate recorded on August 7 for Cheongju Broadcasting (CJB). It is scheduled to air on Aug. 13.

“I don’t think it’s the place of politicians to be fighting over whether [the events of 1961] were a ‘coup d’etat’ or a ‘revolution,’” she said.

Her remarks came in response to a question from fellow primary candidate Kim Tae-ho, who asked if she would agree that the overthrow was both a coup and a “necessary decision.”

She also said, “No one can refute that the events themselves did happen, whether you call them a ‘coup’ or a ‘revolution.’”

Kim repeated his question as to whether May 16 was a coup, to which Park responded that “we need to leave that issue” for history to decide.

Other primary candidates Kim Moon-soo and Yim Tae-hee also asked questions about May 16, prompting a dismissive Park to say, “You really live in the past, don’t you?”

The day before, Park hinted at a possible change in her stance, saying the overthrow was “not something normal.”

Speaking on Aug. 7 at a debate organized by Dailian, an online news outlet, she quoted her father’s remarks that “I hope there are no more unfortunate soldiers like me.”

“As that shows, [the 1961 incident] was not anything normal,” she said. “Under those circumstances, he had to make an unavoidable decision.”

The online Merriam-Webster English dictionary defines “coup d’etat” as “a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics, especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]