Park Geun-hye
Who was Park Geun-hye?
South Korea's first female president who served from 2013 to 2017 before being impeached and removed from office over a corruption scandal.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Park Geun-hye (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Park Geun-hye, born on February 2, 1952, in Daegu, South Korea, was the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, when she was removed from office. She is the eldest daughter of Park Chung-hee, South Korea's third president, and became the first woman head of state in South Korea and East Asia. Park graduated from Sogang University in 1974 with a degree in electronic engineering and later studied in France at Grenoble Alpes University. After her mother, Yuk Young-soo, was assassinated in 1974, Park took on the role of acting first lady during her father's presidency until he was assassinated in 1979.
Before becoming president, Park had a long legislative career. She served four consecutive terms in the National Assembly from 1998 to 2012 and started a fifth term in June 2012 as a representative elected via national list. She led the conservative Grand National Party from 2004 to 2006 and later the Liberty Korea Party from 2011 to 2012. Her political career was bolstered by her family background and her disciplined and reserved reputation in South Korean conservative politics. In 2013 and 2014, Forbes ranked her among the world's 100 most powerful women, naming her the most powerful woman in East Asia.
Park won the presidential election in December 2012 as the Saenuri Party candidate, defeating Moon Jae-in. She was inaugurated in February 2013. Her presidency focused on economic innovation, which she called the 'creative economy,' and improving inter-Korean relations through 'trustpolitik.' She received several international honors during her presidency, including the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Sun of Peru in 2015 and the Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 2013.
On December 9, 2016, the National Assembly voted to impeach Park over influence-peddling charges involving her confidante Choi Soon-sil. The Constitutional Court confirmed the impeachment with a unanimous 8–0 ruling on March 10, 2017, removing her from office and making her the first South Korean president to be removed this way. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn acted as president during the interim. On April 6, 2018, a South Korean court sentenced Park to 24 years in prison for corruption and abuse of power, later increased to 25 years. Further convictions extended her total prison term. She was granted a presidential pardon by President Moon Jae-in in December 2021 due to her age and declining health.
Before Fame
Park Geun-hye was born into a well-known political family in South Korea during the early years of the Republic. She went to Jangchung Elementary School, Sacred Heart Girls' Middle School, and Sacred Heart Girls' High School, then studied electronic engineering at Sogang University in Seoul. Her childhood was influenced by her father's authoritarian rule and the Cold War tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
After her mother was killed in 1974 during an assassination attempt aimed at her father, Park took on the role of acting first lady in her twenties. When her father was assassinated in 1979, she stepped away from public life for almost twenty years. She returned to politics in the 1990s and furthered her studies in France at what is now Grenoble Alpes University, which exposed her to European politics and culture. She re-entered South Korean politics in 1998 as a National Assembly member, beginning a long career built on both her family's history and her own reputation for personal discipline.
Key Achievements
- Became the first woman elected president of South Korea and the first female elected head of state in East Asia in 2012.
- Served four consecutive terms in the National Assembly between 1998 and 2012, establishing one of South Korea's longest legislative records for a conservative politician of her era.
- Led the Grand National Party as chairperson from 2004 to 2006, stabilizing the party following electoral setbacks.
- Ranked as the most powerful woman in East Asia by Forbes in both 2013 and 2014.
- Received the Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath from the United Kingdom and the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Sun of Peru, among numerous international honors, during her presidency.
Did You Know?
- 01.Park Geun-hye is the first and only woman to have been elected president in South Korean history and the first female elected head of state in East Asia.
- 02.Her mother, Yuk Young-soo, was killed in 1974 by a North Korean-linked gunman who had aimed at her father, Park Chung-hee, leading the then-22-year-old Park to assume the role of acting first lady.
- 03.Park received a doctor honoris causa from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris in 2016, one of several honorary degrees she was awarded across her career, including earlier ones in 1987, 2008, and 2010.
- 04.The corruption scandal that led to her impeachment centered on her relationship with Choi Soon-sil, a private citizen with no official government position who was accused of using her ties to Park to extort tens of millions of dollars from major South Korean companies.
- 05.Park was granted a special pardon by President Moon Jae-in in December 2021, despite Moon having been her opponent in the 2012 presidential election she won.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| honorary degree | 1987 | — |
| Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Sun of Peru | 2015 | — |
| Grand Order of Mugunghwa | 2013 | — |
| Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | 2013 | — |
| honorary degree | 2008 | — |
| honorary degree | 2010 | — |
| honorary degree | 2008 | — |
| doctor honoris causa from the Pierre and Marie Curie University | 2016 | — |