SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye (click here) became South Korea's first female president Monday, returning to the presidential mansion where she grew up with her dictator father.
Park's last stint in the Blue House was bookended by tragedy: At 22, she cut short her studies in Paris to return to Seoul and act as President Park Chung-hee's first lady after an assassin targeting her father instead killed her mother; she left five years later after her father was shot and killed by his spy chief during a drinking party.
As president, Park will face stark divisions both in South Korean society and with rival North Korea, which detonated an underground nuclear device about two weeks ago. South Koreans worry about a growing gap between rich and poor, and there's pressure for her to live up to her campaign suggestion that she can return the country to the strong economic growth her strong-man father oversaw....
The new President is seeking to grow the South Korean economy with a focus on science, innovation and the promotion of small business potential for the average South Korean.
South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, arrives for an official dinner at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, Feb. 25, 2013.
Posted: 25 February 2013 1403 hrs
SEOUL: South Korea's new president hinted strongly (click here) Monday that she would seek to rein in the powerful conglomerates that dominate the national economy and have been accused of stifling innovation.
Park Geun-Hye made the domestic economy the focus of her inaugural speech as she was sworn in as South Korea's first female president in a ceremony in Seoul.
The daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-Hee, Park took aim at the giant family run corporations, or "chaebols", that were nurtured by her father as the motors of South Korea's economic growth.
There have been growing calls to reform chaebols such as Samsung and Hyundai whose interests have expanded into almost every sector of the economy, and whose financial clout has smothered smaller competitors.
"I believe strongly that only when a fair market is firmly in place, can everyone dream of a better future and work to their fullest potential," Park said in her speech....
It is nearly impossible for small business to compete against larger corporations that can out price the competition. She could seek to subsidize the smaller businesses to help them move into a larger part of the economy. Subsidies would end the unfair advantage of larger corporations that have slowed the South Korean economy.
..."In order for a creative economy to truly blossom, economic democratisation must be achieved," Park said Monday.
Promising to build a new "creative" economy, Park signalled extensive support for science and information technology industries, calling them her "key priorities".
"I will raise our science and technology to world-class levels," she said, pointing to the creation of a "Ministry of Future Planning and Science" tasked with running the programme....
The new President is seeking to grow the South Korean economy with a focus on science, innovation and the promotion of small business potential for the average South Korean.
South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, arrives for an official dinner at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, Feb. 25, 2013.Posted: 25 February 2013 1403 hrs
SEOUL: South Korea's new president hinted strongly (click here) Monday that she would seek to rein in the powerful conglomerates that dominate the national economy and have been accused of stifling innovation.
Park Geun-Hye made the domestic economy the focus of her inaugural speech as she was sworn in as South Korea's first female president in a ceremony in Seoul.
The daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-Hee, Park took aim at the giant family run corporations, or "chaebols", that were nurtured by her father as the motors of South Korea's economic growth.
There have been growing calls to reform chaebols such as Samsung and Hyundai whose interests have expanded into almost every sector of the economy, and whose financial clout has smothered smaller competitors.
"I believe strongly that only when a fair market is firmly in place, can everyone dream of a better future and work to their fullest potential," Park said in her speech....
It is nearly impossible for small business to compete against larger corporations that can out price the competition. She could seek to subsidize the smaller businesses to help them move into a larger part of the economy. Subsidies would end the unfair advantage of larger corporations that have slowed the South Korean economy.
..."In order for a creative economy to truly blossom, economic democratisation must be achieved," Park said Monday.
Promising to build a new "creative" economy, Park signalled extensive support for science and information technology industries, calling them her "key priorities".
"I will raise our science and technology to world-class levels," she said, pointing to the creation of a "Ministry of Future Planning and Science" tasked with running the programme....
