[Editorial] Park’s shaking stature

Monday was a bad day for Park Geun-hye, head of the Saenuri Party’s emergency governing body and the front-runner in its presidential race. In a survey result released on Monday, Park allowed Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party to overtake her for the first time. On top of that, the main edition of the Chosun Ilbo carried perhaps the most scathing criticism of Park’s personality in an interview story with a former close aide.

Up until the middle of last year, Park had enjoyed overwhelming support in the polls outperforming the combined support of about 10 other presidential hopefuls from the ruling and opposition camps. From the latter part of 2011, Ahn Cheol-soo, a political and economic reform advocate, emerged commanding broader public support than Park did, but Ahn is still ambivalent about running for president.

Realmeter, a Seoul-based polltaker, conducted random dialing to the phones of 3,750 adults across the country ― 80 percent to homes and 20 percent to mobiles ― between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3. In one-on-one comparison, Moon had 44.9 percent support against Park’s 44.4 percent. The Ahn to Park contest had the percentages at 51.5 and 40.0. However, Park was still ahead in the all-inclusive field, gaining 31.2 percent against Ahn’s 21.2 percent and Moon’s 19.3 percent.

Chosun Ilbo’s full-page interview with Rep. Jeon Yeo-ok, who served as party spokeswoman for almost two years under Park, surprised many who were accustomed to the conservative paper’s generally sympathetic coverage of Park and consistent reverence paid to her late father, President Park Chung-hee. Jeon, a former KBS reporter, said Park cannot and should not become president.

The 57-year-old second-term lawmaker described episodes that she had seen close up to prove her point. In perhaps the first-ever negative assessment of both the capacity and quality of Park’s leadership in a major newspaper, Jeon said Park was egotistic, always demanded allegiance and respect from her associates without offering care in return, was detached from the real life of the grassroots and lacked organized intellect or insight. (“She spent a full 10 minutes pondering what to write on a visitors’ book and finally put down the three letters of her name.”)

The story, which immediately became the talk of the town, could be the beginning of the rigorous process of vetting the presidential candidate, although it unfortunately used the venomous tongue of a disenchanted former confidant. The initial scrutiny came from within the party and Park Geun-hye and her helpers should now be ready to meet attacks from all directions and prove her resilience or they will end up exposing her vulnerability.

Her formation of a crisis management team in the ruling party has passed the major test by producing a new party platform which illustrated a variety of welfare programs in pursuit of votes from the weaker sectors of society. Next came the assembling of largely non-political personalities to commission the task of selecting party nominees for the April 11 general elections.

Some noise was raised over the qualification of a few members of the nomination committee but Park managed to quiet it down with the exit of one. And then there was the rather mild argument over the new name of the party for its supposedly feminine flavor. Park will now face the real challenge as she and the screening panel look for candidates who are assured to muster constituents’ support and display the party’s new image.

Coincidentally, both conservative and liberal camps are under the stewardship of female leaders, but Han Myeong-sook of the DUP is in a comparatively freer position as she at present is not considered a presidential contender. Park alone should now break through the hidden apprehension in this long male-dominated society about giving the highest mandate to a woman as well as the people’s general depreciation of women’s ability to tackle adversities.

There are other matters that Park should clear up, such as her personal finances and her role in the management of the assets which were established for her father and handed over to her family. Jeon Yeo-ok’s disparagement of her former boss may just be an overture to a storm approaching the 60-year-old aspiring to become the first female president of the republic.