They're not? They're wearing sarongs and hibiscus blossoms in their hair.

The European Union launched Operation Althea on December 2004.

Earlier studies had dealt with jute, kenaf and allied fibres, hides and skins, livestock and fishery products.

Park may appear to face the least vexing domestic conditions, with South Korea s economy growing at a 3.2 annual pace in the second quarter of 2014, only marginally lower than market forecasts. But Park undoubtedly views her domestic circumstances as anything but rosy in many ways, this has been an annus horribilis for her and her country.

Pre launch public information campaigns, designed and run by the EU Special Representative's press team in cooperation with the EU Planning Team and NATO SFOR, helped ensure that Operation Althea was widely understood by the time the transfer took place.

She has also served as a leader of the Saenuri Party (formerly known as the Grand National Party). In 2006, an assailant slashed her face as she was campaigning on behalf of the GNP s candidate in Seoul s mayoral election.

On 2 December 2004, NATO successfully terminated the mission of the Stabilization Force (SFOR) and the European Union launched the European Force (EUFOR) Operation Althea.

The scandals surrounding the top aides to Lee nicknamed the Bulldozer from his career as a construction industry executive have complicated matters for the ruling Saenuri Party s candidate, Park Geun hye, and buoyed the hopes of her leftist rival, Moon Jae in of the Democratic United Party. Park is the daughter of former president, General Park Chung hee, who seized power in a military coup in 1961.

On 11 October 2004, the General Affairs and External Relations Council approved the operational plan for Operation Althea, the largest European led military operation so far.

Thus, how the Chinese receive Park may turn out to be less a reflection of change in South Korea than a reflection of change in the People s Republic an issue that goes to the heart of China s identity and mission in the modern world.

Park, who lost her first bid for the GNP s nomination to Lee in 2007, needs to ensure that no rupture with her erstwhile rival knocks her off the path to victory in 2012. An astute politician, Park did not hesitate to campaign wholeheartedly for Lee the last time around a move that, as part of long term political strategy, made perfect sense.

Complicating matters further is the need for Park to devise a viable response to a new diplomatic charm offensive by North Korea s usually charmless leader, Kim Jong un. Park remains, rightly, a skeptic concerning Kim s motives but the spectacle of the North s second highest ranking official appearing suddenly at the Asian Games earlier this month created a frisson of excitement that perhaps Kim the Younger may actually want to improve relations.

For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the launch of Operation Althea marks the beginning of a new phase in its recovery its transition from the era of Dayton to the era of Brussels.

But China is about to experience something new South Korea s soft power, personified by Park, who represents a center right coalition, but defies the usual political labels. Indeed, she was elected with a curious blend of support right wing backers of her father, Park Chung hee, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1961 to 1979, and many other Koreans, including some on the left, who wanted someone different from the usual blue suited, white shirted Korean politician.

In one of her very rare appearances on a popular television talk show on January 2, she called Ahn a very popular professor with young people. Indeed, while she acknowledged that young men and women have rebelled against the established parties, Ahn supposedly spurred them to do so through a series of lectures called Youth Concert.

Facing the possible economic loss, South Korean President Park Geun hye said at a cabinet conference on the 10th day that what is important is to reduce its negative effects as far as possible while sticking to the core part of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

SEOUL South Korea s incoming president, Park Geun hye, takes over a country that has been a global role model for economic development. But, with the economy slowing, it has become a model in need of renewal.

To make matters worse for Park, many of her predecessors are perceived as failures. Two former presidents, Roh Tae woo and Chun Doo hwan, were prosecuted another, Roh Moo hyun, committed suicide.

South Korean President Park Geun hye I will nbsp remove the May 24 sanctions we placed on North Korea after their military provocations in 2010, because they are making impossible nearly all of the measures to build trust and confidence that I keep saying are necessary.

Park Geun hye, daughter of Park Chung hee, President of South Korea from 1961 to 1979, is now one of the two likely candidates to succeed President Lee Myung bak. While Park derives some of her power from her family pedigree, she has proven to be an astute and seasoned politician nbsp one who climbed the Grand National Party s leadership ladder over the last two decades to emerge as a national figure.

Park Geun hye, daughter of Park Chung hee, President of South Korea from 1961 to 1979, is now one of the two likely candidates to succeed President Lee Myung bak. While Park derives some of her power from her family pedigree, she has proven to be an astute and seasoned politician one who climbed the Grand National Party s leadership ladder over the last two decades to emerge as a national figure.

There is great anticipation among conservative voters, in particular, concerning her policy toward North Korea, a country that continues to be as unpredictable as ever. (Witness Kim Jong un s sudden dismissal of senior military officer Ri Yong ho, anointment of himself as a marshal, and revelation that he had married a woman first glimpsed when she accompanied him to a concert featuring appearances by Disney s Mickey and Minnie Mouse.)

Park, too, has sent signals that she may want to ease tensions. She recently met with former Japanese finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga, and Kim Kwan jin, the chief of South Korea s National Security Office, recently met with Abe s national security adviser, Shotaro Yachi.

Both her mother and her father, President Park Chung hee, were assassinated, in 1974 and 1979, respectively. Indeed, her father was murdered by his own intelligence chief, KCIA Director Kim Jaegyu.

Numerous opinion polls show Park Geun hye of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) to be the leading candidate. If elected, she would be South Korea s first woman president, and, for her rivals, her dominant position in the race is an uncomfortable but unassailable fact.

Come presidential election day in 2012, South Korean voters will pick the candidate who embodies pragmatism and centrism over a partisan or ideologue. Park s success will depend, in the end, on the effectiveness of her campaign in further defining her character along those lines.

But, apart from his sentimental wartime connections to Japan, his anti Communism was incentive enough to continue warm relations with the imperial power that had brutally colonized Korea for a half century. Park Geun hye, South Korea s current president, is his daughter.

Unlike former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori s daughter, who lost her presidential bid in Peru last month, Park is likely to defy her family s tragic history. If she does, she will be Asia s most powerful woman, perhaps the most powerful in the world, at the end of next year.

It is in this challenging environment that the Republic of Korea s president, Park Geun hye, took office in 2013. Her foreign policy called Trustpolitik aims to transform this atmosphere of suspicion and conflict into one of confidence and cooperation, and to build a new Korean Peninsula, a new Northeast Asia, and a new world.

The good news is that Park s government is working to change this. Indeed, its three year plan for economic innovation, announced in February, aims to raise the female employment rate to 62 by 2017, through the provision of affordable, high quality childcare facilities and expanded paid parental leave, among other measures.

One reason why they can engage in this dangerous brinkmanship is the continuing presence of the US as the regional policeman. America s armed forces are the buffer between the two Koreas, and between China and Japan.

Xi seized the opportunity to drive a wedge between America s two main Asian allies, and built a memorial to Ahn. Japan responded by blasting China for glorifying a terrorist and propagating a one sided view of history a move that, Japan asserted, was not conducive to building peace and stability.

TOKYO As Shinzo Abe sits down this week in Seoul with South Korean President Park Geun hye and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, he does so as the leader of a country that many people around the world now seriously underestimate. That dynamic certainly will be felt during the three Northeast Asian powers first summit since 2012.

With Abe, Park, and Xi each facing daunting domestic challenges, a rare convergence in each country of self interest and national interest may be creating a chance for improved relations. The question now is whether Northeast Asia s Big Three leaders can overcome old positions, shake hands, and get serious about regional diplomacy.

The gender gap in enrollment in both secondary and higher education is very small and women s access to elite positions in law, medicine, and the civil service has increased considerably in recent years. The country elected its first female president, Park Geun hye, in 2012.

Park is tough minded on national security, but takes up new issues and agendas with a refreshing combination of intellectual energy and personal calm. She listens carefully and pauses before responding.

Its cultural and scientific achievements are increasingly influential throughout the world. Even when its relations with Japan are difficult, Japanese tourists flock to Seoul to shop and tour the studios that produce the country s extraordinarily successful television dramas.

Park s visit to China comes at a time when China s new leadership is grappling with problems near and far. Its reluctant pivot away from North Korea, however discernible, should not be regarded as a fait accompli nor should it be explained away as the result of momentary frustration with the adolescent behavior of Kim Jong un, North Korea s boy leader.

Following the frank discussion of North Korea by Xi and Obama, Xi hosted a summit with South Korean President Park Geun hye, without first meeting with its official North Korean ally. Instead, two senior North Korean officials subsequently visited Beijing and were scolded for the North s behavior.

While some pundits and politicians now suggest that the GNP could collapse sooner than corrupt and poverty stricken North Korea, Park Geun hye, an iconic woman in South Korean politics, has made it clear that she will not abandon the GNP. To further highlight her resolve, Park became the GNP s interim leader last month.

But such encouragement must be undertaken in ways that do not incite the North s fears of being destroyed by indirect means. 160 South Korean President Park Geun hye s recent proposal to provide humanitarian assistance despite the recent spike in tension, is a start in the right direction.

For the Chinese, in particular, the talks have been an opportunity to get to know some of their neighbors better and they have certainly helped Sino US relations. But perhaps the key bilateral relationship that has been strengthened by the six party mechanism is that between China and South Korea.

China s increasing assertiveness in staking its claims contributed to the landslide victory of the defense minded Liberal Democrats in Japan, and to the conservative Park Geun hye s election as South Korea s first ever female president. Rising regional tensions also provided the backdrop to US President Barack Obama s trip to Southeast Asia shortly after his re election.

By contrast, Xi and Park issued a joint statement proclaiming the importance of faithfully implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions that call for sanctions against North Korea, as well as a multilateral agreement in 2005 that obliges the North to exchange its nuclear weapons programs for economic and diplomatic benefits. Both leaders urged a resumption of the six party talks on denuclearization, which have been suspended since 2009.

On July 10, the frontrunner, Park Geun hye of the ruling Saenuri (New Frontier) Party, became the first to announce her candidacy. In addition to other opposition candidates, much attention has focused on Ahn Cheol soo, Dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University, who is a successful entrepreneur and a charismatic figure for South Korea s young and independent voters.