The origins and style of Park Geun-hye

Posted on : 2012-12-06 15:28 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Conservative candidate’s inner circle say they’re scared she won’t win the election, but more scared that she will

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

Park Geun-hye is the main conservative candidate in this month’s election. This is the second time there has only been one major right-leaning candidate since the direct presidential election system was revived in 1987. The last time it happened was in 2002. This time around, there is no second contender from the right like former prime ministers Kim Jong-pil and Lee Hoi-chang or lawmaker Rhee In-je. Park’s standing among conservatives is secure.

But the Saenuri Party (NFP) candidate’s leadership has been a mixture of light and shadow, with principle, trust, and moderation counted among her virtues, and uncommunicativeness and old-fashioned authoritarianism among her vices.

Origins: From ‘Poor Geun-hye’ to ‘election queen’

When Park Geun-hye was first elected to public office in a by-election for Daegu’s Dalseong district in 1998, she instantly became a key political presence. Much of this was based in sympathy - despite her pedigree as a president’s daughter, voters’ hearts went out to her for losing both parents to assassins’ bullets. Indeed, this also factored to some extent in her leapfrogging to become her party’s vice president just two years later, quickly making her second in command.

After ascending to power on the back of her life story, she quickly built an “aura” around herself with her achievements - exploits that earned her the title of “election queen”. With one month of her taking over as Grand National Party (predecessor to today’s Saenuri Party) leader in March 2004, her party had taken 121 seats in the general election, bringing it back from the brink after a backlash over its impeachment of former President Roh Moo-hyun.

One picture from the time is still talked about today: it shows her walking toward a tent serving as a makeshift party headquarters, holding a sign bearing the party’s name. She racked up win after win in by-elections and local elections before stepping down as party leader in June 2006. Over the same period, the ruling Uri Party (predecessor to today’s Democratic United Party) was churning through eight different leaders. She even managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in this year’s general election on April 11.

Her conservative credentials are counted as another strength. As GNP leader, she sandbagged four reform bills proposed by the Roh administration, which she branded “the four bad laws.” The Private Education Act was particularly contentious: after a budget committee refusal and an extraparliamentary battle, Park managed to gain enough support for the bill coming from a disadvantageous 3-7 position. By working overtime to defend key conservative interests over public welfare, she became recognized as the “last bulwark of conservatism and a queen who defends her castle.”

Principled and trustworthy or driven by interests?

The themes of “trust” and “principle” have been central to Park’s leadership. Indeed, they have become key themes in her brand: “principled capitalism,” “diplomacy of trust,” “trustworthy capital.” This image wasn’t built in a day. Park put it in place brick by brick while serving as GNP leader: getting rid of stalwarts like Kim Deok-ryong and Park Sung-bum after bribery scandals and introducing bottom-up nominations. In the process, she cemented her reputation as someone who “walked the walk.”

Her image as someone who put the party first, seemingly without concern for her own interests, fed into her leadership. She even got a reform plan out of party reform committee chairman Hong Joon-pyo after Kim Moo-sung, a close associate from her days as GNP leader and the secretary-general at the time, had physically thrown the same document and said, “We’re being taken for a ride. This is unacceptable.”

The image of Park as “principled” reached its zenith with a 2010 plenary session speech at the National Assembly to oppose plans for revising the special law on Sejong City. Associates said she would stick to her principles even it meant losing ten million votes from the greater Seoul area. Her presidential platform’s emphasis on “practical action” over novelty owes much to these political assets.

But many have recently charged that Park’s principles are inconsistent and often swayed by interests. After calling for expanded welfare, she supported Na Kyung-won, a candidate who opposed free school lunches, in the October 2011 Seoul mayoral by-election. She has also skirted or compromised on political issues that could hurt her, including the Four Major Rivers Project and media legislation that paved the way for newspaper companies to go into broadcasting. The term “Park Geun-hye-style answer” has become a byword for addressing divisive issues with potentially high political costs by giving empty talk about “bipartisan agreement” and “thorough discussions,” without making her position clear.

Some observers have also commented that Park’s principles bend before relatives and associates. When her younger brother Ji-man was implicated in a savings bank scandal, she dismissed charges of his culpability by saying, “He said it wasn’t him. I think that’s the end of it.” She also exercised “caution” during parliamentary election nominations when a sexual misconduct scandal erupted over candidate Kim Hyeong-tae, who was part of her presidential election camp in 2007. And after her emphasis on keeping the party and Blue House separate, a furor ensued when she became the GNP’s emergency committee chairwoman earlier this year and critics charged that she was turning the party into her own personal organization.

Self-disciplined and authoritative, or hard to reach and uncommunicative?

Self-discipline and authority are two more important aspects of Park Geun-hye’s leadership. Her speaking style is terse but tough. Simple phrases such as “What about Daejeon?” and “What an awful president” allowed her to realign realpolitik in Korean. The strong aura created by her status as daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, the support she receives from the public, her position as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race, and her own distinct brand of self-restraint and rectitude combine to create her charisma.

While she is a female politician in a party that is known for its machismo, she knows how to keep Saenuri members in line. Party members are terrified of getting on her bad side. Once she is done with you, her well-bred and sophisticated demeanor gives way to unrelenting iciness. “If Park glances out the window or shakes her head while you’re making a report, your voice starts trembling and your legs begin to wobble [at the thought that she’s unhappy with you],” said one pro-Park lawmaker.

Another mechanism that has reinforced her authority and self-discipline is her absolute commitment to security. It is forbidden for Park associates to quote her on anything that has not appeared in an official statement. The final decision-making process for appointing staff and making policies is concealed behind a shroud of secrecy. Even the members of her election camp have to work independently, with each of their projects carefully partitioned. A number of her associates have gotten phone calls from Park after they told someone outside of the camp about what she had said. “If you want to work with me,” she warned, “such behavior is unacceptable.”

Security not only serves as a shield for Park, but also works to strengthen her authority. In addition to carefully screening her political feelings and intentions, it also buys her enough time to track and detect shifting trends in popular opinion. Park’s focus on security allows her positions to “ripen,” also giving rise to the ironic observation that she “answers questions only after the answers have been revealed.”

It was inevitable that this would create controversy about Park being uncommunicative. “When a proposal is made, there is never a clear yes or no,” said a key member of Park’s election camp. “Even the people who made the proposal won’t find out whether it has been approved until Park announces it publicly.”

People close to Park face the same difficulties, and there are numerous examples of her confidantes saying that they’re not sure what she things about a given issue. This is also the reason why controversy continues over the “stealth intervention” by a group of her private aides including Jeong Yun-hoe, Park’s former chief of staff. Park claims that she is a good communicator, talking on the phone “until her arm aches,” but the fact remains that close supporters of the woman don’t find it easy to approach her or speak frankly with her.

Lingering doubts on her human resource management skills

“We’re afraid that she won’t win the election...and even more afraid that she will.”

This comment reveals anxieties in the Park camp about her inner circle and her ability to management style. One key figure on her election camp is worried that “there are no major figures in Park’s circle,” that “all of the decent people have left” and that “she doesn’t have any original thinkers who know how to ask the hard questions. They’re all a bunch of yes men.”

During the economic democracy dispute between Kim Jong-in, chair of the Public Happiness Promotion Committee, and Lee Han-gu, chair of the Policy Committee, Park insisted there was “no real difference of opinion” and didn’t bother to clear up the confusion. Park is reluctant to delegate power, even to her chief followers. She had courted Kim Jong-in assiduously, going so far as to call him “the father of economic democracy,” but when he questioned her decisions, she dismissed him without a second’s thought.

“The key to understanding Park’s management style is ‘don’t touch her vulnerable spot,’” says one senior Saenuri member. “The moment that Kim Jong-in raised doubts about Park’s plans for economic democracy and voiced his suspicion that she was being lobbied by chaebol, he touched a sore spot. She shows no mercy to anyone who challenges her authority.”

“The damage inflicted by Park is related to one’s distance from her,” mused one aide. “The closer you get, the more it hurts.” This helps explain the harsh criticism she has received, some calling her an “ingrate.”

Another keyword that helps us her understand her management style is her extreme reaction to treachery.

“When I recommended someone from the pro-Lee wing who might be of assistance in the election, she cut me off at once and told to tell him she had no use for him,” a lawmaker from the pro-Park win of the National Assembly said.

The criticism that Park has an even smaller pool of talent to draw upon than the Lee Myung-bak administration is related to Park’s inability to bring together a range of people. The figures that Park has included in her “grand conservative coalition” people such as Lee Hoi-chang, Rhee In-je, and Han Kwang-ok - are the old guard of regionalism, a far cry from an alliance joining generations and classes.

However, there are some who believe that Park will adopt a completely different management style if she is elected this year. Park says she is committed to “balanced appointments”.

“Just wait and see,” said one of Park’s advisors. “As soon as Park takes power, the prime minister, ministry heads, and the read of the administration slots will be filled with people we haven’t heard anything about so far. That is when we will start seeing the experts and bureaucrats who were hesitant to step forward while she was just a candidate because they didn’t want to get entangled in politics.”

 

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