On Dec. 9, one and a half months after the corruption scandal was exposed, South Korean National Assembly voted by a huge margin to impeach President Park Geun-hye. The result was reported immediately after the vote, with 234 out of 300 voted to oust the president, well beyond the two-thirds majority (200 votes). Within the result, the conservative-leaning Constitutional Court would have 180 days to decide whether to uphold the legislature’s impeachment motion.
Heated discussions arose around Park for she is both the first female president and the second president to be impeached in South Korean history, yet to understand Park, it is necessary to know about her personal experience. While Park’s political career is widely known throughout the world, her growing up experience is less known by people. This article will discuss about Park’s childhood, her teenage years, and her life as the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in 1952, Park is the first daughter of Park Chung-hee. In 1961, after Park Chung-hee successfully led the military coup (also known as “May 16 Coup”) and became the president of South Korea, Park’s family moved into Cheongwadae (the President’s house). Park finished her Bachelor’s degree in Sogang University in Korea and did her Master's degree in France.
In 1974, when Park was still studying in France, she heard from the news one day, reporting her mother, Yuk Young-soo being assassinated. Without having time to mourn for her mother, Park flew back to Korea at once and assumed the duty of First Lady after her mother’s death. In 1979, 5 years after the assassination of Yuk Young-soo, Park’s father was assassinated by Kim Jae-Gyu, who was the head of Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Several days after the assassination, Park was forced to leave Cheongwadae. With all these events happened to her, Park was determined to stay away from politics for a while. Since then, for over 20 years, there was no more news about Park.
This was probably one of the most difficult period in Park’s life, yet Park still was able to maintain a positive and clear mind. Later, when she reflected this period, Park wrote in her diary, “Pain is part of human nature. It can prove we are still alive”.
In 1997, Park was elected into the congress under the Grand National Party. After years of disappearance, Park finally came back and reappeared in political stage of South Korea.
On Oct 11 June 2006, Park officially announced that her running for the 17th presidential candidates under the Grand National Party. While Park lost the 17th presidential campaign, she made a strong comeback as the 18th presidential campaign candidate and finally won the campaign, becoming the 18th president and the first female president of South Korea.
Throughout her life, Park suffered a lot, and the newly exposed corruption scandal and the president impeachment are new challenges that Park has to face now. While the impeachment has already passed, and it was only left for the conservative-leaning Constitutional Court to decide whether to uphold the legislature’s impeachment motion, Park claimed that whether the result would be, she would wait for it with “a clear and calm mind”, as she always did.
While the conservative-learning Constitutional Court is still making the decision, no one know how the future of South Korea will become for sure. At this point, the only thing we can do is hope the nation and its president for the best.
