Park Geun-hye (L), lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, attends the inaugural session of the 19th National Assembly in Seoul July 2, 2012. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

Daughter of South Korea\'s slain ex-leader to run for president
Daughter of South Korea's slain ex-leader to run for president
Posted : Thursday, 05 July 2012 03:12AM

SEOUL, (Reuters) - Park Geun-hye, the daughter of slain South Korean strongman Park Chung-hee who built the war-torn country war into an industrial powerhouse, will announce she is to stand for her conservative New Frontier Party's nomination for president on July 10, her spokesman said on Thursday.

Park, 60, has been party leader three times and failed to win her party's presidential nomination in 2007. She advocates widening the social welfare net and engaging with a hostile North Korea.

Park has a double digit percentage point lead over her nearest rival in most opinion polls and looks certain to be picked by the New Frontier Party in its primary in August and to win the polls due in December.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park, writing by Jack Kim; Editing by David Chance)

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