South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye (Creative Commons).

Park, 60, is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, a military general who took power of South Korea in a coup in 1961, USA Today reported, and ran the country as a military dictatorship until he was assassinated by his security chief in 1979.

Park defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in, 59, for a five-year term. Moon is the leader of the Democratic United Party and a former human rights lawyer who was once briefly jailed for opposing her father’s regime as a student activist. 

From USA Today:

On the campaign, Park said she would try to reach out to North Korea with offers of friendship and aid to get it to end its threats and attacks against the South. But she did not favor a return to a more dovish policy that Moon promoted.

She also promised to fight government corruption, boost welfare benefits to help in an ailing economy, and curb the power of big corporations, though again Moon had called for greater crackdowns on corporations that small businesses say are too powerful.

                                                                SEE ALSO: South Korea Votes For New President

The race was close, with polls closing to give Park 50.1 percent of the vote over Moon’s 48.9 percent, BBC reported.

"This is a victory brought by the people's hope for overcoming crisis and economic recovery," she told supporters in the capital Seoul.

Read more of Neon Tommy’s coverage on South Korea here.

Reach Executive Producer Agnus Dei Farrant here.