Strengthening TK Support ahead of Party Convention: President Yoon Visits Park Chung-hee’s Birthplace

President Yoon Burning Incense: President Yoon Suk-yeol visits the birthplace of former president Park Chung-hee in Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do on February 1 and offers flowers and burns incense at the memorial hall. Courtesy of the Office of the President

On February 1, President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the birthplace of former president Park Chung-hee for the first time since his inauguration. The president took action to gather supporters in the Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do (TK) region, a central base for the ruling People Power Party (PPP), and seek support for his ideas ahead of the party convention. Candidates in the PPP convention also began mentioning Park Chung-hee, once again proving the dominant rule in the PPP election, as candidates tried to attract conservative voters by claiming to preserve former president Park’s legacy.

President Yoon paid silent tribute after offering flowers and burning incense at the memorial hall in the former president’s birthplace in Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. An incumbent president visiting the birthplace of Park Chung-hee was an unprecedented event.

In a written briefing, Kim Eun-hye, the president’s senior secretary for public relations, explained that the president looked around listening to descriptions of the pictures of President Park and the first lady displayed inside the home. After his visit, President Yoon wrote in the visitor’s book, “A great future led by a great leader. I, along with the people, will not forget and will continue the legacy.”

The president made the visit Wednesday after attending to economic affairs as well. He attended a meeting on a strategy to foster talented human resources held at Kumoh National Institute of Technology. In his opening remark, President Yoon said, “President Park’s spirit lives on at the Kumoh National Institute of Technology in Gumi, which President Park Chung-hee worked to establish since 1975 with great insight into the nation’s future.” He continued and said, “The only way for the country to survive amidst the fourth industrial revolution and the global competition for technological hegemony is to educate and train talented people in science and technology.”

The president highly praised Park Chung-hee, describing him as a “great leader” with “great insight,” in what seems to be an attempt to draw the public sentiment in the TK region, the former president’s political hometown. President Yoon is working to strengthen support for his ideas among the People Power Party’s key supporters with the party convention approaching on March 8. Since the decisions at the party convention will be determined 100% by member votes, the party supporters in this central area could have a significant impact on the outcome. On January 31, just before former president Park Geun-hye’s birthday (Feb. 2), President Yoon sent an orchid as a birthday present and began “tending to the father and daughter.”

President Yoon’s approval rating in the TK region remains in the low to mid-50% level in surveys by Gallup Korea. His approval rating was highest in this area, but given that this is his core support base, the support was not overwhelming.

This was the third time that President Yoon visited Park Chung-hee’s birthplace. He made two previous visits when he was a presidential candidate in September 2021 and last February. In his visit last February, President Yoon referred to Park Chung-hee as the person who “implemented the five-year economic development plan and achieved a socio-economic revolution in the Republic of Korea through the Saemaul Movement in the countryside,” and said he would thoroughly and properly study President Park’s socio-economic revolution to fit the present era.

Candidates for the PPP leader all visited the TK region Wednesday and began “promoting” Park Chung-hee. Lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon and Ahn Cheol-soo, the two major candidates, visited Daegu and mentioned former President Park. Kim suggested naming the new airport for the Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do region the “Park Chung-hee Airport,” and Ahn attended a meeting with the representatives of a group promoting projects to succeed the spirit of Park Chung-hee and said, “I properly learned Park Chung-hee’s spirit when I was a student.”