The Saenuri Party's presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye is considering a move to visit several foreign countries to highlight her diplomatic credentials and ability to lead the country in the global arena, sources said Monday.
Sources said that no specific date or schedule has been set, although confirming that Saenuri believes a trip is necessary as Park strives to become South Korea's next chief executive.
They said that because there is not a lot of time before the Dec. 19 presidential election, the five-term lawmaker who won her party's presidential ticket on Aug. 20, will likely have to visit several countries at once.
The United States, China and some European Union countries are being considered as destinations for the trip. These countries are important because starting this year, South Korean nationals living abroad can cast their votes to pick the country's president.
Rep. Won Yoo-chul told South Korean nationals living in the United States late last month that Park will try to meet them in person to win support if she comes to the United States.
Saenuri officials also hinted that there may be a move to get Park to hold talks with senior U.S. officials and politicians, although such a plan will require close coordination. The U.S. is also in the process of picking its next president, which could make it hard to arrange a meeting with politicians.
In addition, to the possible visit to the United States, Park may fly to China to touch on outstanding bilateral issues that include ways to diffuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Beijing is viewed as the only country in the world that exercises some leverage over North Korea.
Park is known to have cordial relations with many Chinese politicians and sent a personal congratulatory message to Xi Jinping, the presumptive heir to current President Hu Jintao, when he was made vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2010.
Besides visits to the United States and China, Park could call on Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom she knows personally.
Talks with Merkel could help Park alleviate some reservations about a woman becoming the country's next president, and allow her to drum up support for economic democracy that is based in part, on strengthening global competitiveness of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Germany's economic strength is based on the strength of its SMEs.
Party sources, meanwhile, said that if Park opts to go abroad, it will not be during the time that the parliamentary audit is in session from Oct. 5 though Oct. 24. (Yonhap)