Yesterday, the Saenuri Party presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye made a statement claiming that the controversy surrounding the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation was a political attack by the opposition party.

This is a step back from her previous position, when she announced that she had nothing to do with the foundation's recent attempt to sell its shares of media outlets. As for a possible solution to the issue, she simply suggested renaming the foundation and added, "The foundation should come up with its own solutions."

She argued that the foundation should not remain at the center of political disputes confusing the public. In short, she seemed to say that there was nothing wrong with the scholarship foundation itself, but since it has been the subject of political debate, the issue should be settled by asking the chairman to step down or by changing the name of the foundation.

Park's argument can be summarized into four points: First, since the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation is a public foundation, the opposition's claims that she be held responsible are merely political attacks.

Second, since the foundation's funds include donations from domestic benefactors in addition to the property donated by the late Kim Ji-tae, the foundation does not merely succeed the Buil Scholarship Foundation. Third, the foundation was not seized by the country, but was returned to society--it was a return of property collected by an illicit businessman.

Fourth, there is nothing wrong with a person who understands the wishes of the founder running the foundation. Park supported these claims by pointing out that the foundation remained in operation without any problems during the 10 years that the Democratic Party held office, but she also contradicted herself by defining the foundation as a public foundation yet emphasizing the management of the foundation according to the founder's wishes.

The highlight of the press conference was Park's understanding of how the foundation came to own its shares of MBC and The Busan Ilbo--seized or not--and how she kept changing her statement.

When Park first explained her views, she denied any pressure from the government, but after receiving a memo from an aid, which seemed to point this out, she changed her statement saying, "I believe the court ruled against the plaintiff claiming that it was difficult to acknowledge the existence of coercion."

However, even this explanation lacked truth. In a lawsuit filed by the family of the late Kim Ji-tae against the foundation requesting a return of their shares, the bench recognized the execution of government force but stated that the legal deadline to request a return of property had expired. The negative prescription had been completed.

The issue is too serious to consider Park's statement as a simple mistake. One can't help but ask whether Park even read the court ruling before coming to the press conference. It was a glimpse of Park's undemocratic side and her inability to communicate: once she thinks she's right, she doesn't know how to change her views no matter what the world may say.

This press conference only reconfirmed the gap between Park and the public. What solutions Park did offer, such as renaming the foundation or the resignation of the chairman, hold no significance other than that she mentioned something specific.

In a situation when any solution would end up being empty rhetoric without a promise to resolve the MBC and The Busan Ilbo issue and to return the foundation to society, Park actually denied the problems with the foundation. It's no exaggeration when we say that we now doubt the sincerity of Park's apology on past issues such as the May 16 Coup and the Yushin Constitution.

This series of incidents once again opens our eyes to the fact that one's understanding of history is not something that can be altered with an apology or reflection, but is a problem of one's life and philosophy.