Park Geun-ryeong, 62, the younger sister of President Park Geun-hye, has decided to enter the April 13 general election, touting the name of her deceased father -- the late President Park Chung-hee.

“Park Geun-ryeong, as legitimate successor to the late President Park’s political legacy and revolutionary spirit, will be the No. 1 proportional representative candidate (for our party),” Shin Dong-wook, chief of the Republican party, said late Sunday. Shin is also the husband of the younger Park.
The Republican Party, which has no parliamentary seats, was established in 2014 and takes its name from the Democratic Republican Party which backed the high-handed rule of the late President Park in the 1960s and 1970s.

This is not the first time the president’s sister has aimed for a parliamentary seat. In 2012 she was a candidate in the birthplace of her deceased mother Yuk Young-soo, but stepped down two days before the election, without gaining significant support.

She came under fire last year for bemoaning Seoul’s criticism of Tokyo over the wartime sex slavery issue and defending the Japanese prime minister’s controversial visits to the Yasukuni war shrine. Her behavior put the president in an awkward position, as it came amid heightened efforts to improve the tense diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Cheong Wa Dae has refrained from commenting on the issue.

By Bae Hyun-jung(tellme@heraldcorp.com)