South Korea's presidential candidate Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party attends her election campaign rally in Suwon, about 46 km (29 miles) south of Seoul December 17, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

In 1997, Park returned to politics, joining the Grand National Party (GNP), predecessor of the ruling Liberty Korea Party, and was elected a lawmaker a year later. She acted as deputy chief and chief of the GNP.

Following the aborted attempt in 2007 to become the GNP's presidential candidate, she was picked as the party's candidate for the 2012 presidential election with a landslide victory in primary.

On her campaign trail, she built an image of a candidate free from nepotism and corruption scandals surrounding the first families, saying she has no family member left to care about as she is unmarried and has no children.

The image has been broken apart since the corruption scandal embroiling Park and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil emerged in October last year.