South Korean female students see embarrassment, lessons learned in Park scandal

By Peter Kim
GSS Correspondent

SONGDO, South Korea – Pride. Embarrassment. Surprise. Concern. These were the reactions of female students at Chadwick International School following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye earlier this month and her arrest Friday.

A South Korean court approves the arrest of ex-President Park Geun-hye over corruption allegations. https://t.co/6er9lAqtEx

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 30, 2017

Park, 65, was arrested on charges that included bribery, extortion and abuse of power, The New York Times reported, becoming the country’s first democratically elected president to be forced from office.

Korea’s National Assembly voted to impeach Park on Dec. 9 and she was removed from office March 10 after a vote by the Constitutional Court.

Serah Park, a junior at Chadwick, sees the Park scandal as an embarrassment, but also as a point of pride.

“Former President Park is the one who got impeached for the first time in Korean history under (a) democratic system, and this is done by the will of Korean citizens,” she said. “I’m really proud of this.”

“However, it’s really embarrassing to show other countries about the shadow government behind President Park, and many other crises,” she added.

Junior Abby Kwon worries that President Park’s troubles may affect how voters see women candidates in future Korean presidential elections.

“Some Korean people seem (to) see this problem not as the issue of President Park herself, but the issue of gender.” she said. “I think that this impeachment will have some negative effects on later female presidential candidates. I wish that Korean people will see President Park not as the representative of women, but just (a) failed president.”

Park is accused of conspiring with a confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to extort multimillion-dollar bribes from Samsung and other companies.

As the scandal deepened, hundreds of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets in “candlelight” demonstrations calling for her ouster (see related story by GSS correspondent Daniel Kim, “Blue House standoff comes amid anger among South Koreans over corruption, social inequality“).

The demonstrations and polls tracing Park’s shrinking support were a sharp turnaround from hopes raised when Park was elected in 2012, becoming South Korea’s first female leader. 

“When (Park) was elected, and became the first female president of South Korea, it was surprising that a woman became the president in such a conservative Korean society. In Korean government, there have not been many female public officials in the high(est) position. Therefore, I felt that President Park’s win was the one step forward to better society,” said Chadwick junior Brianna Lee.

But the lesson learned from Park’s impeachment may be to look more closely at the next person who wants to lead South Korea.

“In future presidential election, people will compare the candidates, look into each candidate, double check, and think more carefully about the presidential election,” Lee predicted.

—Featured photo: President Park Geun-hye delivers an address at a luncheon hosted by U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Korean Industries, and the Korea-U.S. Business Council at the Willard Hotel on May 8, 2013, in Washington D.C. Photo by Korea.net/Korean Culture and Information Service/CC 2.0. BBC News video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5z_FhveeUU.