From LA Times:
Tuesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye stepped to the podium, facing dozens of news cameras and what might be the biggest challenge of her presidency. She made a hastily arranged public apology for a growing scandal that has been roiling South Korean politics for weeks.
The scandal revolves around a close associate of Park’s, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of Park’s late mentor, and charges that Choi used her ties to the president to pressure corporations to cough up millions in donations to dubious foundations that Choi allegedly used like a personal ATM. Park has also been accused of blindly following directives from Choi, someone with no job in government or official public profile.
Even before she became president in early 2013, Park was by far the most recognizable politician in South Korea. Born in 1952, she has been in the public eye since childhood, when her father, military dictator Park Chung-hee, ruled the country.
She assumed the duties of first lady in 1974, when her mother was shot to death during an assassination attempt on her father. Five years later, her father was assassinated by a top official in his government.
Her father left a complicated legacy. While in power, he oversaw South Korea’s most dramatic period of economic development, driving the country from postwar poverty to industrialized wealth. Along the way he suspended most civil and political rights, and there is still debate in South Korea over whether he should be remembered as a hero or a tyrant.
Park came into office carrying her father’s legacy as baggage. To some South Koreans, she is the second coming of the country’s proudest era; to others, she represents an unwelcome return of her father’s undemocratic rule, even though she was elected.
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-korea-president-scandal-snap-story.html
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