S Korea elects first woman president

Boy oh boy! I can not wait to see who makes it into the South Korean BLUE HOUSE!

Is there any possibility that the "apology story" of the 20th century can be dismissed and sincere cooperation between two vital trading partners can occur in the 21st century? The clock only moves forward, and if the Mayans are correct, nothing will matter. The Mayan calendar is man-made and irrelevant.

Interesting... certainly more interesting than the Japanese election at any rate. Both candidates have an interesting family history, and if Park wins I hope indeed she fulfills the job's requirements adequately. I also hope that regardless of who gets in office, they can work not only to better ties with NK but also with Japan.

Moon, 59, has been more aggressive than Park in his proposals for reining in the power of the giant family-run conglomerates, or “chaebol”, that dominate the economy.

He sounds like the man for the job, I sure hope the Koreans put him in office.

Only 59.32 percent of voters participated in Sunday's House of Representatives election in Japan, the lowest turnout for a general election since the end of World War II, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry announced Monday.

And already over 70% in Korea. I am all for Park Geun-Hye. Aja-Aja!

Foxie: To be a little fair to Japanese, imagine you had to go out and vote twice a year.

Wow! A woman, a KOREAN woman in the blue house there in Seoul, South Korea! Congratulations to Ms. Park Geun-Hye!! And by the way, I really do mean it!

I bet that Lee Myung-bak is trembling now like his predessesors in which his own party lost the presidential election. I wonder how much dirt the winning party will find on him?

Congrats to Ms. Park. Let's hope she can clean things up there and keep the country going on an upward path.

"Like a mother who takes care of her family...", that's a good one from a woman who is said to have never married and probably without children... Really hard to imagine what she knows about women taking care of their families...

Replace "takes care" with "dedicates"

So a political blue blood reaches high office. Now where have I heard that one before?

Scary.

"Like a mother

A Godmother ?

Perhaps in another couple of decades Japan might get

Yuko Tojo as Prime Minister ? That's the closest equivalent but Mrs Tojo has not " dictator's assistant" on her CV.

Congrats to Ms Park! And congrats to Korea for leading the way for East Asia in electing a female leader. Dare I say certain cousins around Korea (Japan, China and Nth Korea spring to mind) could do with giving a female leader a chance - the blokes they all have are wretched, dull, uninspiring old incompetents - at best. Maybe Japan and China will catch up to Korea (and Canada/NZ/UK/Australia/Germany etc etc) in the next few decades?

Oh dear, first Korea beats Japan in getting to top of modern western pop charts, now Korea beats Japan to having a female leader. What's next? Any guesses?

Yeah, first to get attacked by it's own brother, N. Korea

Congratulations Park Geun-Hye....may you bring continued prosperity to the Land of the Morning Calm.

South Korea beats United States into having elected their first woman president

Hmmm...daughter of a military dictator, or human rights lawyer. I preferred the other guy. Let's just hope this lady is not like her dad.

Glad to see that Ms Park Geun-Hye won the election. Hopefully she will steer it further away from the PRC and DPRK.

South Korea beats United States into having elected their first woman president

And the US beat South Korea in electing the first male president

WONDERFUL to see a WOMAN in political leadership again in an eastern nation . . . . . . .

More leftist nonsense. It's more important that a candidate is a woman than whether she's qualified. I

75% voter turnout, that is astonishing.

However she is a staunch conservative, while her opposition was a human rights activist/lawyer.

Just because she is a woman, does not mean that is a good thing... we'll see.

Cos: "Yuko Tojo as Prime Minister ? That's the closest equivalent..."

Why, because her father was a dictator? That does not mean she will be, and I doubt very much she is like Tojo and denies the atrocities of the past.

This is a SAD day for the republic of South Korea. Most Koreans are in a state of dispair/shock. half the nation voted for the human rights/lawyer who was serious about social welfare and cleaning up big corporations.

Fact: the majority of people in their 20's 30's 40's educated voters all voted for Moon. The elderly crowd backed this woman. who is simply Unqualified to lead. On National Security, Unqualified Economic issues Unqualified, social/family issues Unqualified. She only started to discuss women's issues 6months ago. She has stated her first mandate is to remove the Independant Prosecutor's Investigative Office. So govt. corruption can have free reign. She isn't a reformer. And Korea needs political reform urgently.

Nepotism rules in ROK!

The Chaebols are enjoying this, no doubt...

I just hope she Madam President has the right kind of advisors to tell how to deal with the DPRK, ie be tough and unflinching with them.

wow...landmark event, even more so that its in asia

So she's a conservative, so actually a rightward turn for South Korea, first female president thing aside. I'm sure as a fellow political conservative, she and Abe will get along pretty well. (Or perhaps the opposite!)