SEOUL (Reuters) -- The daughter of a former dictator many credit for kick-starting South Korea's rise from the ashes of war to Asia's third biggest economy announced she would run for the presidency next year, Seoul media reported on Monday.

Other politicians have hinted at running but Park Geun-hye, former chairwoman of the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP), is the first to clearly throw her hat into the ring.

"By winning the presidential election, I want to make the country become an advanced, competitive country where people can live comfortably," the JoongAng Daily quoted her as saying at the weekend during a trip to Germany.

Park, 54, is the eldest daughter of General Park Chung-hee who rose to power in a military coup in 1961, eventually becoming president, a position he held until his assassination in 1979.

Although he ruled with a dictatorial style that was to haunt South Korean politics for decades, the late general is widely seen at home as the man who managed to pull South Korea's economy out of ruin and towards its current prosperity.

Park Geun-hye, whose mother was shot dead five years before her father died, is among South Korea's most popular politicians.

An opinion poll published on Monday by the JoongAng Daily showed 32 percent of respondents said they would vote for her if she ran for president.

That put her just a point behind front-runner Lee Myung-bak, a popular former Seoul mayor also with the GNP who has yet to go further than dropping heavy hints that he will run.

Park is credited with rebuilding the GNP as leader after its political fortunes plunged.

She led the party to successive victories in parliamentary by-elections over the past two years and dealt a crushing blow to President Roh Moo-hyun's ruling Uri Party in May 31 local elections by winning more than 60 percent of national votes.