The results of South Korea's national election have been released on Wednesday showing that conservative Park Geun Hye, daughter of a former dictator won the race and is not the first woman to become president of the country.
Analysts and media say the race between the daughter of Park Chung-Hee and liberal, human rights activist - Moon Jae In was a very close race, so much so that many in the media have expressed shock over the results.
Strangely enough, the 59-year-old Jae was jailed in the 1970s for opposing the current president's father's regime. Hye's election to the nation's top executive position is certainly a watershed moment in terms of gender issues, since South Korea, like many other countries both in the East and West hemisphere is still a male dominated society.
Although the two candidates agreed that the country's economy should be of top priority, they differed greatly in approach and ideology. While Hye favors the more conservative methods, Jae looks to the opposite end of the spectrum. The former earned popularity and support with the older citizens, while the latter with the younger constituents.
Kang Won Taek, a political scientist at Seoul National University, told USA Today, "The campaign "is not only a battle between two ideological blocs, but also a competition between younger and older generations."
Aside from the economy, national security (owing to its volatile relationship with neighbor North Korea) is a top priority as well as a financial burden to the government. Hye, who is 60-years-old, said that she was willing to open up negotiations with North Korea, but only until Pyongyang opens up talks about dismantling its nuclear program.
Hye will replace the current president, President Lee Myung-bak, also a conservative, in Feb. 2013.
