The ruling Saenuri Party presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye took steps aimed to end the controversy surrounding a scholarship foundation set up by her father late President Park Chung-hee that has received flak from her detractors.
In an interview with a local daily, Park said criticism being lodged by her political opponents have effectively tarnished the image and purpose of the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation.
The 60-year-old lawmaker, who won her party's presidential candidacy on Aug. 20, then said that she expected the board of the foundation to make a "wise decision" on how the scholarship should be run in the future, hinting that she favored a change in the leadership.
The remarks mark the first time that Park, who was the board's chairwoman from 1994 through 2005, made a direct comment on how the foundation should deal with its incumbent president Choi Phil-lip.
Choi worked as an aide to the late president and is known as a trusted confident of the five-term lawmaker who could become the country's first woman president.
Political sources speculated that the remarks are an indirect way of asking for Choi to step down voluntarily after previous attempts made through third parties failed to have the desired effect.
Park has made clear that while the foundation was created by her father in 1962, she currently exercises no control over what it does and decisions made by the governing board. (Yonhap)