Park to hold press meeting on her father's conflicted legacy

Park Geun-hye, the ruling party's presidential candidate, will hold a press conference on Monday to clarify her position on the controversial legacy left behind by her father, the late President Park Chung-hee.

"Park will have talks ranging over a variety of subjects in a meeting with reporters at 9 a.m. at the party's headquarters," an aide to Park said late Sunday in a meeting with reporters, adding "She may make comments on her father's conflicted legacy."

On Friday, Park said she will make clear her position on the growing controversy "at an appropriate time."

The 60-year-old candidate of the conservative Saenuri Party has been under fire since claiming early this month that there were "two verdicts" over the execution of eight anti-government demonstrators in 1975 during her father's rule.

The victims were cleared in 2007, after a court ruled they had been tortured into making false confessions about trying to rebuild a disbanded pro-communist group "Inhyeokdang," meaning People's Revolutionary Party, in violation of the anti-Communist act.

Park also sparked controversy in July by saying her father made "the best choice in an unavoidable situation" in reference to the 1961 military coup in which he took power.

The controversy on the legacy left behind by her father has continued to hurt her campaign ahead of December's election.

The late President Park ruled the country with an iron fist until he was gunned down by his intelligence chief in 1979. (Yonhap)