The ruling Saenuri Party's conservative presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye, on Tuesday visited two monuments dedicated to a key figure in South Korea's labor history, but the apparent peace gesture was met by angry protestors calling for real solutions to the country's labor problems ahead of December's election.
Park, 60, the eldest daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, arrived at the Jeon Tae-il Foundation in Seoul early Tuesday after pledging days earlier to make national unity a top priority in her election campaign. The candidate has visited the gravesite of the late liberal President Roo Moo-hyun and met with other critics of her father since being nominated as the standard bearer of the ruling party last week.
She is the first woman and the first child of a former president to run as the presidential candidate of a major political party in South Korea.
Dozens of civic activists and labor union members blocked a path leading to the foundation as Park arrived to meet with friends and family members of the late Jeon Tae-il. Among the protestors were union members of Ssangyong Motors who have been fighting for years against the company's massive layoffs in 2009.
Jeon became an icon of South Korea's labor movement after he burned himself to death in 1970 while fighting for better working conditions at a textile firm where he worked as a tailor.
Jeon's death, at age 22, was also seen as a protest against the authoritarian regime of Park's father, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1961 to 1979. The late president is credited with leading the country's industrialization in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War, but he is also resented for his brutal suppression of democracy.
Faced with resistance, Park left the foundation four minutes later by car and headed toward the Jeon Tae-il Bridge across Seoul's Cheonggyecheon stream.
Jeon's family members released a statement earlier saying they were not ready to meet Park because her visit was "too unilateral."
Jeon's younger brother, Jeon Tae-sam, called on the candidate to first pay her respects to 22 former employees of Ssangyong Motors who committed suicide after losing their jobs due to economic and other hardships.
Jeon's younger sister, Rep. Jeon Sun-ok of the main opposition Democratic United Party, also said in a statement that she understands Park's visit has "good intentions" but "the reality of the country's labor environment is so full of problems that it cannot be easily improved."
After arriving on the bridge, Park laid flowers in front of a statue of Jeon Tae-il, but was also met by protests there.
A man appearing to be a union member of Ssangyong Motors laid down in front of the statue and threw the flowers, while other activists shouted out, "What right do you have to come here?" and "How dare you insult this place?"
Park briefly stood by the spot where Jeon set himself on fire and left minutes later.
"I will make a country where workers are happy," she said. "I will make a country where the powers of industrialization and democratization reconcile and cooperate."