OKCHEON, SOUTH KOREA // Park Geun-hye was 22 when she washed the blood from her assassinated mother's dress. Five years later, she recalls in her autobiography, she held her father's blood-soaked shirt after the South Korean dictator was shot dead.
Now, both hampered and helped by the contrasting legacies of her murdered parents, she appears on the cusp of becoming South Korea's first female president.
Ms Park, 60, was chosen as the presidential candidate for the ruling conservatives last week and polls show she is the front-runner for a December election.
For some South Koreans, it is the memory of Mrs Park's father, Park Chung-hee, that comes to mind when they think of her. A military dictator, his 18-year rule dragged the country out of poverty, at the cost of human rights.
He is still a controversial figure in the country and Ms Park's opponents will aim to tar her with his brush in the election race.
But it is recollections of her mother, Yuk Young-soo, once known as "the mother of the nation", that look set to help propel Ms Park into the presidential Blue House.
She is remembered for acts of charity that included a famous visit to a leper colony where she shook hands with and embraced the sick. She remains South Korea's most popular first lady by far, polls show.
For many South Koreans, Ms Park's frugal lifestyle as a single woman living in a modest home in the capital, as well as her simple clothes and 1970s hairstyle, bring her mother to mind.
"Park looks like her mother when she greets people and smiles," said Lee Young-ho, sitting under the curved roof of Yuk's old home in the town of Okcheon, where she lived until she married Park.
Mr Lee should know. A former soldier and Vietnam War veteran, he was a member of the presidential guard in the 1970s and worked closely with the Park family.
The traditional Korean house in which Mr Lee spoke has become a shrine to Yuk, with hundreds of people visiting every day.
Mr Lee, 68, is an official with Park's New Frontier Party and has also co-authored a biography of Yuk. He is confident Ms Park can maintain her double-digit lead in the polls and win an election victory which, he says, would somehow make up for the sacrifices. "A kind of debt can be paid back when Park becomes president," he said.
Yuk was 49 when, on August 15, 1974, she was killed by a stray bullet after a pro-North Korean assassin shot at her husband. Witnesses said the skies turning "reddish-purple" upon her death.
Although her family's story is well known, Ms Park is deeply private and cautious about her politics. She disappeared from public life in 1979 after the assassination of her father by his intelligence chief, only to resurface in 1997 to "help save" the country from a devastating Asian financial crisis.
She has never clearly defined her policies on issues such as taxation, spending and welfare. She says she shares her mother's vision of a more equal society and has pledged to work for that.
"It was my mother's dream and her dream is now mine," she said at her mother's memorial service this month.
Critics say she has failed to apologise sufficiently for her father's rule. She said his 1961 coup was "unavoidable and the best possible choice". At the same time, she says she has always been "apologetic" to victims of her father's brutal push for industrialisation, when he crushed opposition in an effort to drive export-led growth.
Her likely opponent, the former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, who forged his political credentials in the pro-democracy movement, accuses Ms Park of being a throwback to dictatorship.
"When I was living in poverty, she was living the life of a princess in the Blue House," Mr Moon said. "When I was fighting against dictatorship, she was at the heart of it."
* Reuters
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
