Park Geun-hye (born 2 February 1952) is the first female president of South Korea. She defeated the liberal candidate Moon Jae-in in a highly contested election on Dec. 19, 2012 to become the country's first female leader.

Park Geun-hye is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, South Korea's controversial president from 1963 to 1979. Much of her popularity was built upon the close association with her father’s long term rule. When she was 22, her mother died in a botched attempt to assassinate her father, she became the country's de facto first lady until her father’s death in 1979. She never got married.

Park Geun-hye returned to politics in 1998 when many South Koreans wanted fast-paced development when her father governed. She served as chairwoman to the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) between 2004 and 2006 and between 2011 and 2012 (the GNP changed its name to "Saenuri Party" in February 2012). She is also member of the Korean National Assembly who had served for four consecutive parliamentary periods as a constituent representative between 1998 and 2012, and started her fifth term as a relative representative from June 2012.