Park Geun-Hye Elected As the First Woman President of South Korea

Park Geun-hye was elected as the president of South Korea on 19 December 2012, the first woman who acquired this post. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of longest ruling dictator of South Korea.

After the counting of votes, it was declared by the National Election Commission that Park had enjoyed clear victory with 51.64 percent votes in comparison to 47.93 percent votes for Moon Jae-in, who is the former lawyer of human rights. Moon Jae-in was also imprisoned at some point of time for standing in opposition with the authoritarian rule of her father. Moon Jae-in accepted the defeat because clearly her lead was impossible.

Election of Park Geun-hye, 60, is said to be the milestone for South Korean society which has remained mainly male-dominated. Dictator Park Chung-hee, the father of Park Geun-hye ruled the country from 1961 to 1979 and left behind political repression, something that is still dividing the country.

While in office, Lee intensified several problems such as dwindling job opportunities, political corruption as well as increasing tensions with North Korea.

While campaigning, Park had said that being a female would help her in a lot of ways. She never got married. Reputation of Park in South Korea is that of a steely as well as principled leader. Her role models are Queen Elizabeth and British PM Margaret Thatcher.