Specter of Park Chung-hee looms large in Gyeongsang Province prior to June elections

Nam Yu-jin, 65, mayor of Gumi, who visits a statue of Park Chung-hee on Oct. 4, 2017, prior to announcing his candidacy for governor of North Gyeongsang Province. In front of the statue, Nam read a message “addressed to Park’s spirit on the Chuseok [Thanksgiving] holiday” and declared that he would “stand on the front line of the ideological war with the leftists.” (by Kim Il-woo, Daegu correspondent)

Candidates are grasping to claim the mantle of South Korea’s former president while ignoring his imprisoned daughter

Leading up to the local elections that will be held on June 13, a series of candidates in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province have been praising former president Park Chung-hee, who died 39 years ago. But the candidates eager to ride on the coattails of Park’s daughter Park Geun-hye, herself a former president, during the local elections four years ago by evoking her tears are nowhere to be found, presumably deterred by the influence-peddling scandal involving Park Geun-hye and her unofficial advisor Choi Soon-sil. The Park Geun-hye craze that swept over Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province is gone, and Park Chung-hee marketing is gradually taking its place.

Kim Bong-jae, 59, former chair of the Gumi Saemaeul [New Village] Association, said he is planning to declare his candidacy for mayor of Gumi in front of Park Chung-hee’s old house in the Sangmo neighborhood of Gumi, a city in North Gyeongsang Province, at 10:30 am on Feb. 13. Kim hopes to be nominated by the Liberty Korea Party.

Kim’s statement announcing his candidacy, which he handed out in advance, contains the following passage: “Here in front of the residence that still breathes with the presence of President Park Chung-hee, the great leader of the modernization of this country, and alongside this dramatic monument to the Saemaeul Movement, which he advocated so that we could escape from the shackles of 5,000 years of slavery and live a life of prosperity, I consider it an immense honor to announce to you today my candidacy for mayor of Gumi.”

Citizens hold a celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of Park Chung-hee’s birth in front of a statue of the former president in the Sangmo neighborhood of Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 14, 2017. (by Kim Il-woo, Daegu correspondent)

“What we need right now is not the resignation and frustration about the crisis that is affecting the Gumi economy but rather the Saemaeul spirit of ‘it can be done,’” Kim’s said in his statement.

And then there is Nam Yu-jin, 65, mayor of Gumi, who visited a five meter statue of Park Chung-hee on Oct. 4, 2017, before running for governor of North Gyeongsang Province. In front of the statue, Nam read a message “addressed to Park’s spirit on the Chuseok [Thanksgiving] holiday” and declared that he would “stand on the front line of the ideological war with the leftists.” And before announcing his candidacy at the press center of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, on Dec. 26, 2017, Nam paid his respects at Park’s old house in Gumi. He resigned the Gumi mayoralty on Jan. 25, before the end of his term, so that he could enter the gubernatorial race for North Gyeongsang Province.

During his 12 years serving as the mayor of Gumi, Nam, who is a member of the Liberty Korea Party, completely devoted himself to creating the 330,000 m2 the Park Chung-hee Town. At least 142.4 billion (US$130.9 million) won worth of taxpayers’ money went into this project. During an event held at Park’s old house in Gumi on Nov. 14, 2013, to commemorate the 96th anniversary of Park’s birth, Nam said that Park was “half god and half man.” Before Park Geun-hye was impeached, he even attended a rally against the impeachment with a taegeukgi (the Korean flag) wrapped around his body. He has dubbed himself “little Park Chung-hee.”

The other candidates for governor of North Gyeongsang Province are also evoking Park, even if not quite to the extent of Nam. Before throwing his hat into the ring on Dec. 17, 2017, Lee Cheol-woo (lawmaker for Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province) paid his respects at the graves of Park and Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea, at the Seoul National Cemetery, located in the Dongjak District of Seoul, and then posted a picture to Facebook. And on Jan. 21, Kim Gwang-rim (lawmaker for Andong, North Gyeongsang Province) used Facebook to draw attention to his visit to Park’s old house in Gumi.

Kim Gwang-rim, a lawmaker for Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, used Facebook to draw attention to his visit to Park’s old house in Gumi on Jan. 21. (taken from Kim Gwang-rim’s Facebook page)

”Squabbling over who is better at holding ancestral rites for Park Chung-hee”

Park Chang-ho, 52, chairman of the Liberty Korea Party’s North Gyeongsang Province branch, referred to such behavior when he was announcing his own candidacy for governor of North Gyeongsang Province on Feb. 5. “The Park Chung-hee marketing by the Liberty Korea Party’s gubernatorial candidates has crossed the line. Instead of debating policy, they’re squabbling over who would be better at holding the ancestral rites for Park Chung-hee,” Park Chang-ho said.

In Daegu, a number of candidates want to erect a statue to Park Chung-hee. “Let’s put up a bronze statue of Park Chung-hee in the square in front of East Daegu Station,” said Lee Jin-hun, 61, former mayor of Suseong District in Daegu and a member of the Liberty Korea Party, who announced he is running for mayor of Daegu on Jan. 7. And then on Feb. 12, Nam Hae-jin, 61, senior deputy spokesperson for the Daegu branch of the Bareun Party, said he is thinking about promoting the construction of a bronze statue to Park Chung-hee while announcing his run for mayor of Daegu’s Jung District.

By Kim Il-woo, Daegu correspondent

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