In Asia, another daughter takes up a political mantle

In South Korea, likely presidential candidate Park Geun Hye contends with her father's mixed legacy.

Political dynasties have ruled mankind for most of its history, and America's second Bush administration is proof of their power even in established democracies.

In Asia, it is daughters who are stepping into their fathers' political shoes of late, breaking a traditional bias against female leaders and in some cases promising to walk a straighter, cleaner path than their fathers.

Indonesia's new president, Megawati Sukarno-putri, is the daughter of founding president Sukarno. Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is also the daughter of a president. Japan's Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, one of that country's most popular politicians, is the daughter of a former prime minister.

And in South Korea, attention is turning toward Park Geun Hye, the eldest child of controversial former President Park Chung Hee, whose labels include both dictator and economic reformer.

As the popularity of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung dwindles amid skepticism toward his "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea, political observers and average Koreans are already beginning to look to the presidential election of 2002. With "a kind of lame duck feeling" about President Kim, in the words of one analyst at a government-run think tank, two forecasts emerge: One, it's very likely that the country's next president will be someone far more conservative. And two, it's very possible that Park will emerge as a leading contender.

But if Ms. Park unseats Mr. Kim, the fact that she is female won't be the only measure of how far the country has come in the years since her father was head of state.

It was under his administration that Kim was first imprisoned as a dissident.

Yet, the younger Park's political aspirations began only to "set the record straight" on her father's 1963-79 period in office.

"I'm not in politics because I'm aiming for any position," she says, laughing as though embarrassed by the question of whether she could be the next president.

She was thrust into the role of first lady after her mother died in an assassation attempt against her father. Five years later, he was killed by the head of the Korean CIA.

For years, she avoided the limelight, but returned to the public eye when she was elected to the National Assembly three years ago. Park is now the rising star, and vice president, of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP).

Park says she reemerged in part because her father's term was "evaluated in a negative way." Under Park Chung Hee, South Korea became a rapidly developing economy, normalized relations with Japan, and started the first formal dialogue with North Korea resulting in a groundbreaking 1972 agreement to work toward reconciliation.

But many remember him primarily as a dictator whose regime squelched democracy and committed human rights abuses. "It's a historical fact that Park Chung Hee had a large role to play in our economic growth," says Lee Dong-bok, a former negotiator with North Korea and a professor at Myongji University. "But it is also an undeniable fact that he was an autocratic dictator who caused a lot of human rights violations."

In some areas of the country, Park Geun Hye enjoys strong popularity due to family and regional ties. But if she is to succeed, some warn, she will have to distinguish herself from her father. Lots of voters resent him, and a new generation hardly remembers him. Park "needs to define a new role rather than relying on the legacy of her father," says Lee Kyong-hee, editor-in-chief of the Korea Herald. "Many people suffered under [President Park's] rule, especially the people in [Park Geun Hye's] generation.

"She knows a lot more about politics than most other people," Mr. Lee adds, "but she's done actually very little as a politician on her own."

Having a woman president - one who never married - would be a tremendous symbol of change in this traditionally male-dominated society. "Ten years ago, even women did not vote for women," says Lee Kyung-sook, a program officer with the Korea branch of the Asia Foundation. "Still many people tend to think politics is for men, and women should stay home."

For a potential candidate, Park doesn't give off the usual buy-my-10-point-plan vibe. Yet when pressed, Park says she will demand more accountability and transparency from North Korea. She also says she would carry out corporate restructuring, lower trade barriers, and increase competitiveness. "But not all at once" as President Kim did, she adds, which stirred great labor unrest.

People tell her, she says with a grin that exposes small white teeth, that she looks like her mother. But her political persona? All Dad.