It has been a heady four months since Park Geun-hye was sworn in as the Republic of Korea's first woman leader in February.

As a stand-off with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea intensified, her nominee for defense minister withdrew amid allegations of past wrongdoings.

She has promised to create millions of jobs, many of them in a new "creative economy" that would shift the focus away from heavy manufacturing and take the ROK to another level by rewarding innovation and entrepreneurship.

To the DPRK, she offered a step-by-step trust-building process, but vowed she would "not tolerate any action that threatens the lives of our people and the security of our nation".

Elected in December, 61-year-old Park is no stranger to the presidential palace in Seoul, where she served as her father's first lady after her mother was shot dead in 1974 during an assassination attempt on her father.

For five years, Park was charged with receiving the spouses of foreign heads of state at the Blue House, the ROK's presidential residence.

Her father, Park Chung-hee, ruled for 18 years and transformed the ROK from the ruins of the 1950-53 Korean War into an industrial powerhouse.

She is unmarried and has no children, saying that her life will be devoted to her country.

She graduated with an engineering degree from Sogang University in Seoul and was first elected to the ROK National Assembly in 1998.

She sought the presidency in 2007, but her party, now called Saenuri, or New Frontier Party, instead nominated Lee Myung-bak, who went on to win.

She has a "Happiness Promotion Committee" and her campaign was launched as a "National Happiness Campaign", a slogan she has since changed to "A Prepared Woman President".

She has cited former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a tough proponent of free-market economics, as a role model, as well as Angela Merkel, the conservative German chancellor.

Park remains a firm supporter of a trade pact with the US and looks set to continue the free-market policies of her predecessor, although she has said she would seek to spread wealth more evenly.

AFP-Reuters-China Daily

(China Daily USA 06/27/2013 page8)