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anti-establishment sentiment

Critics say the party is too soft on North Korea and too radical in its plans to rein in the country’s huge family-controlled business conglomerates

“I have no family to take care of,” she said. “I have no child to inherit my properties. You, the people, are my only family, and to make you happy is the reason I do politics. And if elected, I would govern like a mother dedicated to her family.”

Park's father, Park Chung-hee, was a military dictator who seized power in 1961 and ran the country for nearly two decades. He was known as a ruler who suppressed democracy, but also oversaw Korea's rapid economic rise from a mostly agricultural society to a global industrial powerhouse.

And during the campaign, Park apologized for human rights abuses committed by her father.

The election was marked by a high turnout of more than 75 per cent, compared to 63 per cent in the 2007 presidential poll. 

Park is the daughter of one of modern Korea's most polarising figures, the late leader Park Chung-hee, who is both admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of autocratic rule.

"middle ground" voters

The association with her father helped her overcome some deeply held prejudices among male voters.

a nation with the developed world’s highest level of wage inequality between men and women

Park faces not only a threatening presence in North Korea, but also a slew of economic issues, which voters said were of even higher importance than their northern rival.