by REERA YOO
On Wednesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye was named the 46th most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine, one notch behind World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
Among the women listed, Park was named the fifth most powerful after Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System; Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Forbes also named Park as the fourth most powerful person in Asia.
“Park Geun-hye has had a tense year since being elected as South Korea’s first female president in 2013,” said Forbes, citing April’s Sewol ferry disaster and the sudden retirement of South Korea’s prime minister. “Bested only by China and Japan when it comes to regional wealth, Park helms a $1.4 trillion economy, No. 13 in the world.”
The South Korean president placed three notches ahead of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was named the second most powerful young person, just one spot behind Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The magazine described Kim to have “absolute authority over the rusting ‘hermit kingdom’ of 25 million citizens.”
Other South Koreans on the list include U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who took 40th place, and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his son Jay Y. Lee, who both ranked in 35th place.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was named the world’s most powerful person of the year, followed by President Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis. This is the second consecutive year Putin has topped the magazine’s annual list.
“No one would call Vladimir Putin a good guy,” Forbes wrote, calling out Putin for his decision to forcefully annex Crimea and wage an “ugly proxy war” with Ukraine. “But as the undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak.”
You can view Forbes’ complete list of “The World’s 72 Most Powerful People” here.
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Photo courtesy of EPA/Bagus Indahono
