On December 19, Park Geun-hye was elected president of South Korea. The daughter of autocrat Park Chung-hee, she will become the country’s first female president. With a voter turnout of 75.8%, Park’s triumph over the liberal candidate Moon Jae-in can be interpreted as a popular endorsement to carry on the status quo conservative leadership that has become entrenched in Seoul. Amidst continued economic downturn, an increasingly tense Asia-Pacific, and erratic signs from the north, the incoming president will be facing a number of pressing issues and as such will need to hit the ground running.
South Korea
Despite being blasted as the daughter of a dictator, Park Geun-hye’s family legacy has proved a major advantage for the 62-year-old president-elect. Her father, Park Chung-hee, seized power in a coup d’etat in 1960, and he remained president until he was assassinated in 1979. The elder Park is remembered for transforming South Korea from an impoverished backwater (GDP per capita in 1962: $104) to an economic powerhouse (2011: $32,100). Yet he is also remembered for the egregious human rights violations carried out by his administration, and these violations fueled some major criticisms that were levied at the incoming president.
But in the end, his economic legacy carried the day. After publically apologizing for authoritarian rule back in September 2012, Park Guen-hye rode a wave of economic nostalgia to win the 2012 elections.
Park’s election comes at a time of sagging economic growth in South Korea. After decades of exponential growth, South Korea’s export-driven economy has taken a beating amidst the global economic slowdown. According to the government figures, the South Korean economy grew at 2.1% in 2012, well below the global average of 3.3%. This is a far cry from the 5% growth of the early 2000s. The disappointing numbers can largely be attributed to a slowdown in China, South Korea’s chief trading partner, and the ongoing situation in Europe. And though South Korea has been singled out as one of the up and coming MIST countries, with its rapidly-aging population, it seems unlikely that South Korea will be returning to the GDP growth rates of the last decade anytime soon.
