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Seoul, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- Scenes of victorious women politicians from all over the world made the front pages in newspapers here Tuesday, a cause of much chagrin among women in the country.

Finland elected Tuesday its first female president, Tarja Halonen, and U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton officially announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate from New York.

Hitting closer to home was the news from neighbor Japan, where Fusae Ota, a 48-year-old bureaucrat, was elected governor of Osaka, the country's second-largest city.

The three women and their predecessors -- Indira Gandhi of India, Madeleine Albright of the United States, Mary McAleese of Ireland, Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh, Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka -- are proudly challenging the label "the fairer sex."

Women in South Korea are also raising their voices louder. Tuesday's newspapers carried stories of female politicians of the ruling party demanding party leaders to keep their promise to give women at least 30 percent of parliamentary seats under the proportional representation system for the general elections.

Issuing a statement in a joint press conference, they claimed women can really crack the corrupt, factional and money-tainted political system.

Representatives from women's groups met presidents of the ruling, coalition and opposition parties at the start of the year and got them to promise 30 percent.

But the male-dominated political system continues to stifle women. The first compromise bill on election law revisions did stipulate the 30-percent allocation. But the revised bill to be sent to the National Assembly for a vote later Tuesday says nothing of the sort.

"We have been cheated twice," said Kwon Soo-hyon of the Korean National Council of Women (KNCW), referring to promises by President Kim Dae-jung during his presidential campaign and by presidents of all three parties to allocate 30 percent of seats to women.

Women's groups point to the nation's backwardness in terms of female participation in politics. Women account for 11.7 percent of legislators around the world but just 3 percent in South Korea.

"We are really not asking as much as we should be. We are asking for 30 percent of seats under proportional representation," Kwon said.

"This does not even include candidacy for elected seats."

The ratio between elected and proportional representation seats is roughly 4:1.

"We are asking for 30 percent from that 'one' part of the ratio."

Women are not staying quiet about this. The KNCW, the Korea Women's Association United and other groups have sent strong protest letters to political parties and are meeting female lawmakers to discuss future measures.