Park plays waiting game with her suitors

Park Geun-hye, chairman of the Korean Coalition for the Future, has stuck to the same hairstyle for almost 20 years. It is the same hairdo that her mother, the former first lady Yuk Young-soo, had. Ms. Park says she looks best in that hairstyle, but acquaintances say that it shows how strongwilled and headstrong she is.

The daughter of former President Park Chung Hee is an attractive option for presidential candidates who want to woo women, conservative voters, natives of the Gyeongsang provinces or remnants of her father's followers. Many of them still have high respect for President Park, a political tyrant, but often credited with jump-starting Korea's economy.

Ms. Park won 23 percent support as a potential presidential candidate in a Joong-Ang Ilbo poll conducted in March. She was omitted in later polls, but her speech and behavior are considered to be the most consistent among contemporary politicians. The party that allies with Ms. Park can at least prevent her from supporting a rival candidate. Ms. Park's choice, therefore, can be important in deciding the course of a confusing presidential race.

The choices made by politicians are linked to their character. Ms. Park will give much consideration to her principles before making a political move.

Presidential candidates were desperate to ally with Ms. Park in the 1997 presidential race. She backed Lee Hoi-chang, the presidential candidate of the New Korea Party, the predecessor of the Grand National Party. After the election defeat, Ms. Park remained in the party, although dozens of lawmakers defected to the ruling party. In 1998, she became a National Assembly legislator representing the Dalseong district in Daegu.

But she refused to help the GNP candidate running for mayor of Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang province, in the 2000 by-elections. That candidate was the former assistant of Kim Jae-kyu, the intelligence chief who murdered her father in 1979. She did not stir an inch despite party officials' pleas. She recently expressed her resentment of Kang Sin-ok, the head of party planning for the independent presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon. Mr. Kang defended her father's murderer.

Early this year, Ms. Park asked Mr. Chung to join her Korean Coalition for the Future; and when he did not reply, she excused him on the supposition that he was busy with the World Cup tournament. The two met in August at Mr. Chung's request. But Ms. Park's friendly feelings for Mr. Chung cooled rapidly. She said she could not understand the purpose of the meeting when he had no concrete plans for the political direction of the new party.

She dismissed the possibility of alliance with Roh Moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party, despite Mr. Roh's requests. "We cannot be in the same party when we're so different," she said.

The nascent coalition of dissident MDP members, Mr. Chung, United Liberal Democrats and the former prime minister Lee Han-dong is wooing Ms. Park. But she dismissed the group as bibimbap, rice with a mixed assortment of ingredients. And she strongly criticized Mr. Lee's autocratic style when she left the Grand National Party early this year.

So her choice is still up in the air. She recently said she would decide within a month on her choice for president.

The GNP is most actively wooing Ms. Park. Party associates said that the demands she made at the time she quit the party -- a primary to nominate the presidential candidate, a group leadership system and separation of party leadership and the presidential campaign -- had been implemented. The party and Ms. Park are now the same color, they insist.

Ms. Park recently said she would likely support the group whose policies were most similar to hers, which must have given hope to the GNP. Mr. Lee will even participate in a memorial service for Park Chung Hee on Saturday. He canceled a gathering of his supporters in Busan on the same day.

Returning to the GNP may be the best option for Ms. Park, who draws her support from the Gyeongsang provinces. Her assistants said she would return to the GNP if she decides to support Mr. Lee. But it is unclear that the mistrust of him that led her to leave the party has been dispelled. Another aide said Ms. Park would not return to the GNP unless Mr. Lee comes up with a reliable message.

Ms. Park might not form an alliance but stay with her own party. She provided the deposit money to lease her party office by mortgaging her house. "I don't worry," she said. "There isn't much to put in the house."

by Kim Sung-tak