The ruling Saenuri Party's presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye on Monday expressed remorse and apologized to all those who suffered under her late father's rule, a move aimed to shed the historic baggage that has plagued her campaign.
In a news conference held at the party headquarters in Seoul, the 60-year-old candidate said the 1961 military coup that brought her father to power; the 1972 Yushin Constitution, which effectively allowed late President Park Chung-hee to stay in power indefinitely and suppressed dissent; and the Inhyukdang incident that resulted in the execution of eight people, all delayed Korea's political development and hurt the value of its Constitution.
"In the shadows of South Korea's rapid growth there was pain, suffering and irregularities as well as various human rights abuses committed by authorities," she said.
Park said that it is not easy for a daughter to publicly point out the shortcomings of a parent in Korea, but made clear she is now a presidential candidate who needs to share the views on the country's history with ordinary people.
"I deeply apologize to all those who were personally hurt and families members of victims of government abuse," she said.
The five-term lawmaker, who became the first woman to win a presidential nomination from a major South Korean political party on Aug. 20, sparked criticism earlier this month by claiming there were "two verdicts" over the execution of eight anti-government demonstrators in the Inhyukdang case of 1975.
The eight were cleared of all charges in 2007, after a court ruled they had been tortured into making false confessions about trying to rebuild the disbanded pro-communist group Inhyukdang, or the People's Revolutionary Party, in violation of the anti-Communist act.
The Saenuri candidate, in addition, sparked an uproar in July by saying her father made "the best choice in an unavoidable situation" in reference to the military coup.
Park said at the press conference that as a presidential candidate she will do her utmost to cure the pain and suffering, and proposed the creation of a nationwide unity committee that can examine all historical events in a fair and impartial manner.
The Saenuri hopeful said that although it may take time she would like to meet people who suffered under her father's rule and try to alleviate the pain they experienced. She added that now is the time to look forward instead of dwelling on the past, and seek unity instead of fueling division.
Her remarks, meanwhile, are seen as the most forthright admission of her father's faults since she started her political career more than 15 years ago.
In the past, she made several apologies but had generally skirted direct criticism about President Park, and generally deferred judgment by calling on history to evaluate his 18-year rule.
Political pundits said the change in her stance comes as polls started showing her trailing independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo and even Rep. Moon Jae-in, a contender from the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP).
In a poll conducted by World Research over the weekend, Ahn, a computer software entrepreneur-turned-candidate and founder Ahnlab, received 49.9 percent of support in a hypothetical two-way race with Park, who got 45.1 percent. In a race with Moon, Park was effectively tied by getting 47.5 percent approval rating vis-a-vis 47.2 percent for her opponent.
Another survey conducted by Media Research showed Park 8.7 percentage points behind Ahn who got a 49.9 percent approval rating, and even trailed Moon 45.9 percent to 45.0 percent.
The numbers are not good for the Saenuri candidate with less than three months to go before people cast their votes to pick the country's next chief executive on Dec. 19. (Yonhap)