Download South Korea has elected its first female head of state.

Conservative leader Park Geun-hye comes with a painful political legacy.

Her father was president during the '60s and '70s.

Her mother was killed in an assassination attempt on the president in 1974 and the president himself, Park Chung Hee, was assassinated by the chief of the secret police in 1979.

Ms Park has won office promising to create more jobs and increase welfare spending while reviving South Korea's sluggish economy.

Liam Cochrane from Radio Australia speaks to Professor Lee Jung Hoon from Yonsei University about this.

Download In South Korea, one of the world’s most wired countries, what you say online could get you in trouble. Especially if it’s about North Korea. 

Just ask Park Jung-geun who was recently found guilty of supporting the Pyongyang regime. 

Human rights groups say the National Security Law is being used to silence opponents of President Lee Myung-bak. 

And they want South Korea’s next leader to scrap the law.    

Reporter Jason Strother has more from Seoul.