Former President Park Chung-hee had amassed no substantial personal assets when he was assassinated in 1979. The May 15 Scholarship Foundation and the Yookyoung Foundation for Children formed the major part of his legacy. Park’s daughters Geun-hye and Geun-young and son Ji-man took charge of their operations.

Geun-hye first served as the chairwoman of the Yookyoung foundation operating the Korea Children’s Center in eastern Seoul but turned it over to her younger sister Geun-young. Geun-hye then became the board chairwoman of Yeungnam University near Daegu, which was established by President Park’s aides with the merger of Daegu and Cheonggu Universities. She then worked as the chair of the May 16 Foundation, which was renamed Chungsoo Foundation after her father and mother, between 1995 and 2005.

The Park family’s relations with these foundations and the university are inseparable by nature but these organizations have become a political burden to Park Geun-hye as she emerges as the presidential frontrunner of the Saenuri Party. This is because the “donation” of private property to establish the Chungsoo foundations was brought about by coercion during Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship. Her political opponents have raised questions about Geun-hye’s financial relationship with these organizations.

The latest move by the family of one of the donors to get the property back failed as a Seoul district court turned down a request for the return of Chungsoo Foundation assets this week on the grounds of the statute of limitations. Chungsoo Foundation holds 30 percent of the MBC network and 100 percent of the Busan Ilbo newspaper.

Timed with the legal action by the family of the late Kim Ji-tae, who made the allegedly forced donation in 1962, Moon Jae-in, an opposition presidential hopeful demanded that Park Geun-hye clarify her ties with the Chungsoo Foundation, quoting a newspaper report that she had received 250 million won ($220,000) a year while she chaired the foundation.

Geun-hye maintains that she has played no part at all in the operation of the foundation since she resigned in 2005 and that it is totally under the responsibility of present chair Choi Phil-lip, a former aide to President Park, and other board members.

As a presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye is advantaged and disadvantaged by her father’s good and bad legacies. No matter how strongly she disassociates herself from these organizations, she cannot be completely severed from what they stand for. The foundation has its charter which defines the purpose of its establishment by the founder, Park Chung-hee. As the founder’s daughter, who had taken over its operation, she cannot completely separate herself from the organization.

Park Geun-hye can only clarify her financial involvement with the Chungsoo Foundation and other organizations in the past or at present, if she wants to remove any doubts. Besides, it is recommended that she apologize to the families of those who were forced to donate their properties during the military rule, even if the court has denied their right to recover them legally.