Park Geun-hye won’t run in April elections

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the interim leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, said Tuesday that she won’t run in the parliamentary elections on April 11 in her electoral district in Daegu.

The move signaled that senior lawmakers, who are gearing up for the campaign in the ruling party’s home turf, will face mounting pressure to rethink their candidacy in order to give opportunities to promising political novices.

In a press meeting held in the National Assembly, Park said she was determined to give up her candidacy in the Dalseong district because that’s what her supporters there wanted her to do.

“My supporters advised me to be more focused on greater politics, which I accepted,” she said.

“Dalseong is just like my political hometown as residents there helped me win parliamentary elections after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. I was able to come this far in the political arena, thanks to their support.”

With tears in her eyes, the four-term lawmaker said it was not an easy decision to drop her candidacy in the district because of the bond of trust she had built with her supporters there.

“But the party has been faced with an unprecedented crisis and this prompted me to have thought deeply about what would be the best thing to do for the party,” she said.

She became emotional during the press meeting and had to take time to control her emotions while delivering her speech.

Despite the announcement, there is the possibility that she might run in the election on the proportional representation system. Park remained silent about this, adding she would discuss other related issues with other party members.

The ruling party leader headed to Dalseong, Daegu City Monday, and her trip prompted analysts to speculate that she might make a major decision regarding her candidacy.

In the conservative camp, Park is a leading presidential candidate.