Han Myeong-sook, the first woman Prime Minister of South Korea, announced her decision to stand in December’s presidential elections on Monday. She is attempting to represent left leaning forces. Han is seeking the post of the President of South Korea, and if elected, would serve a single, five-year term.
After serving for almost a year as the Prime Minister, Han Myeong-sook quit her office in March. According to analysts, she is a ‘long shot’, even after she came out unharmed from her episode in the government of unpopular President Roh Moo-hyun.
Her political career includes imprisonment for teaching pro-Communist ideas to the lower classes. She served a sentence from 1979 to 1981. It is now believed that she had served the sentence because of pro-Democratic ideals.
She was appointed the Prime Minister on the 24th of March 2006. Han is also the 50th Prime Minister of South Korea, apart from being the first woman to have served as a Prime Minister in the history of South Korean politics. Preceding her career as the Prime Minister, she had also served as the Minister of Gender Equality and the Minister of Environment.
In a news conference held to announce her candidacy, she said,
I want to listen to the people and go closer to them and try to ease their pain.
The entrance of Han into the South Korean government was not much of a stirring event, as she had been an unknown face. However, according to the analysts, she had earned admiration and respect due to her diplomatic handling of a gambling scandal and also for her role in maintaining peaceful relations between President Roh and the Parliament.
Being the second woman to seek presidency in the South Korean politics, Han Myeong-sook is competing with Park Geun-hye, who is the the daughter of an authoritarian president shot dead by his spy chief. Park is candidate of the main conservative Grand National Party.
Image Credit : Wikipedia
Via : Reuters
