As North Korea plans missile launch, South Korea's conservatives edge out liberals

Conservative candidates did surprisingly well in elections seen as a test of South Korea's policies. Economy and North Korea may be factors.

|
Ahn Young-joon/AP
Park Geun-hye, head of the ruling Saenuri Party's interim governing body, center, and her party members arrive at the National Cemetery in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 12. The party claimed a majority Thursday in a parliamentary vote that centered on domestic issues but had implications for Seoul's relationship with the North.

The daughter of South Korea’s longest ruling dictator emerged today as the front-runner for president after conservative candidates did surprisingly well in elections seen as a test of the government’s policies.

Park Geun-hye, whose father, Park Chung-hee, seized power in a military coup in 1961 and ruled with an iron fist until his assassination by his intelligence chief in 1979, was clearly relieved by the outcome of elections for all 300 seats in the National Assembly. At the same time, she distanced herself from the country’s president, Lee Myung-bak, whose pro-business policies have alienated many voters. 

At a news conference, Ms. Park promised to “start anew with the mindset that we will be remembered as sinners if we revert to the old ways.”

Forecast by many observers to fall behind the opposition Democratic United Party, her Saenuri Party won a slim majority of 152 seats against 127 for the opposition. The Saenuri, roughly translated as New Frontier, is the name for the conservative grouping, which last year changed its name from Hanara or Grand National Party as polls showed President Lee’s sharply declining popularity.

The election results should bring an end to attempts by government foes to invalidate a free trade agreement with the US that was approved earlier by the assembly. Conservatives, led by Park, may also be inclined to press for negotiations with North Korea, which has totally rejected overtures by the Lee government in view of its hard-line policies, including refusal to provide food aid.

“The Saenuri rebranded themselves,” says Michael Breen, author of a book on Korean customs and culture. “Right now Park Geun-hye is the most likely candidate to be the next president. The Democrats are disunited.”

Park promised reform for millions of citizens who see the conglomerates that dominate the economy as enriching their owners at the expense of the poor and middle class.

“Never again,” she vowed, “will we waste time on issues that are not relevant to people's lives.”

Young people in particular, however, doubt such assurances. “I am disappointed by the election results,” says Chang Sung-eun, who works for a small company. “I think we have to change. I want new faces. The rich people are much richer, and the poor are much poorer.”

The election results swept the headlines here while the world awaited the launch by North Korea of a long-range missile. The North says the rocket will put a weather satellite into orbit while the US and South Korea denounce the move as a "provocative" effort to test a new model with a range as far as the US west coast. Many observers expected the launch on Thursday morning, but strong winds evidently forced postponement.

North Korea’s state media said the missile would roar off the pad in the northwestern corner of the country near the Chinese border at the latest by Monday, the day after massive celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founding "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to As North Korea plans missile launch, South Korea's conservatives edge out liberals
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0412/As-North-Korea-plans-missile-launch-South-Korea-s-conservatives-edge-out-liberals
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe