Lee Myung-bak

This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee Myung-bak 이명박 李明博
17th President of South Korea
Incumbent
Assumed office  25 February 2008
Prime Minister	Han Duck-soo Han Seung-soo
Preceded by	Roh Moo-hyun
32nd Mayor of Seoul
In office 1 July 2002 – 30 June 2006
Preceded by	Goh Kun
Succeeded by	Oh Se-hoon
Born	19 December 1941 (1941-12-19) (age 67) Nakakawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan (defunct; currently Hirano, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan)
Political party	GNP
Spouse	Kim Yun-ok
Religion	Presbyterian

Lee Myung-bak
Hangul 이명박 Hanja 李明博 Revised Romanization I Myeongbak McCune- Reischauer Yi Myŏng-bak

Lee Myung-bak (pronounced /ˈliː ˈmjʊŋˌbæk/ or Korean [i.mjʌŋ.bak̚]) (born December 19, 1941) is the tenth and current President of South Korea (currently serving the seventeenth presidential term since the establishment of the role). He previously served as the thirty-second mayor of Seoul and is a current member of the Grand National Party.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Business career 3 Early political career 3.1 Mayor of Seoul 4 Presidential Election 4.1 The BBK Scandal and Kim Kyung-joon 5 Presidency 5.1 Domestic Policy 5.1.1 Education policy 5.1.2 Economic policy 5.1.3 Canal 5.1.4 Cabinet Appointments 5.2 Foreign Policy 5.2.1 North Korean Policy 5.2.2 US Beef Imports 6 Criticism 6.1 Political freedoms 6.2 Press freedoms 6.3 Religion 6.4 Canal 6.5 Foreign policy 6.6 Cabinet Appointments 6.7 Education policy 7 References 8 Additional reading 9 External links

Early life and education

Although some portal sites misstate that the president's place of birth is Pohang, Korea, in his autobiography "There is no such thing as Myth", it clearly states that he was born in the then-Korean residential district of Nakakawachi-gun, Osaka Prefecture, Japan (now Hirano-ku, Osaka City). On his birth certificate Lee's Japanese name is Akihiro Tsukiyama (月山明博, Tsukiyama Akihiro^?).^[1] At the time his father, Cheung-u Lee (이층우), worked as a farm hand on a cattle ranch in Japan. His mother, Taewon Chae (채태원) was a housewife and a devout Presbyterian. Lee has three brothers and three sisters. He is the fifth of seven children. After the end of World War II in 1945, his family returned to his father's hometown Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. ^{[2] [3]}

Tragedy, however, struck once again, this time in the form of the Korean War. On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans launched a surprise invasion of South Korea. Due to the war, Lee's father lost his livelihood, and the family had to move and make its home on the site of an abandoned temple. Mostly, his family lived in poverty. At school. Lee couldn't even dream of eating a proper lunch. Times were quite different from when the family lived in Japan, where his father could afford to send money home and even bring his cousins to Japan to study.^[4]

Yet Lee learned the value of hard work early. By the time he'd left elementary school, he'd done every job possible. He sold matches. He sold rice rolls outside an army base. He even sold cakes until he was caught by military police. Even when he was in middle school, he kept working hard for living.^[5]

In those tough times, secondary education was a privilege for only a selected few. In a big family like Lee's, Lee's elder brother was considered the hope of family. This often meant that siblings were expected to sacrifice their own education to support their brothers' or sisters' schooling, so Lee didn't expect to go to high school. Instead, he planned to help his mother sell bread in order to earn tuition money for his brother. However, His teacher proposed allowing Lee to attend Dongji Commercial High School in Pohang, with a full scholarship, which offered night classes that would allow him to work during the day and study at night.^[6]

A year after graduating from high school, Lee gained admission to Korea University. During his third year in college in 1964, Lee ran for the chairman of student council and was elected. In his autobiography "There Is No Myth," Lee recollects working odd jobs to put himself through college. That year, Lee participated in student demonstrations against President Park Chung-hee's Seoul-Tokyo Talks. He was charged with plotting insurrection and was sentenced for five years' probation and three years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Korea. He served a little under three months of his term at the Seodaemun prison (서대문형무소)in Seoul. ^[7] That year, the pro-democracy demonstration by students was peaked out and the public anti-sentiment over 'Seoul-Tokyo Talks', that was meant to boost the cash liquidity for the development of infrastructure, was tremendous. He took the lead of the student demonstration involving 12,000 others from Seoul in June 1964 and served his term at Seodaemun prison with a charge of plotting the insurrection. Since then, he assumed the title of '1st generation of democratization'.[17][18] Lee is married to Kim Yun-ok (b. 1947) and has three daughters and one son. Lee is also a declared Christian and an elder at Somang Presbyterian Church in Seoul.

Business career

In 1965, Lee started to work at Hyundai (then little known mid-sized company called Hyundai Construction) which was awarded a contract to build the Pattani-Narathiwat Highway in Thailand. The US$5.2 million project was Korea's first-ever overseas construction project. Despite being a new employee, Lee was sent to Thailand to participate on the project. The project was successfully completed in March 1968, and Lee returned to Korea and was given charge of Hyundai's heavy machinery plant in Seoul.^[8]

It was during his three decades with the Hyundai Group that Lee earned the nickname "Bulldozer". In one instance, he completely took apart a bulldozer to study its mechanism and figure out why it kept breaking down.

Lee became a company director at the age of 29 - just five years after he joined the company - and CEO at age 35, becoming Korea's youngest ever CEO. In 1988, he was named the chairman of Hyundai Construction at the age of 47.^[9]

When he started at Hyundai in 1965, it had 90 employees; when he left as chairman after 27 years, it had more than 160,000.^[10] Soon after the successful completion of the Pattani-Narathiwat Highway by Hyundai construction, Korea's construction industry begun to focus thier effort to encourage the creation of new markets overseas such as Vietnam and Middle East. Following the decline of the construction demands from Vietnam in the 60s, Hyundai construction tuned their eyes towards the Middle East and continued to be the first to lead the successful completion of such vital international projects as the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard and Diplomatic Hotel in Bahrain and the Jubail industrial harbor projects in Saudi Arabia, also know as 'the great history of the 20th century'. At that time, the amount of the orders received by the Korean construction company exceeded $10 billions and this contributed greatly to overcome the national crisis such as the oil shock.[19]

He played a role in bringing about normalization of South Korea's relations with the USSR. Further, Lee also built relationships with foreign leaders, including former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen^[11], former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamed, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

After leaving Hyundai, at the end of a 27 year career, he decided to enter politics.

Early political career

In 1992 Lee made a transition from business to politics. He joined the Democratic Liberal Party instead of the Unification National Party, that is founded by Chung Ju-yung. He was elected as a member of the 14th Korean National Assembly(for Proportional representation). After being elected, he stated he ran because "After watching Mikhail Gorbachev change the world climate I wanted to see if there was anything I could do." ^[2] In 1995, he ran for the City of Seoul's mayoral election, but in primary of the Democratic Liberal Party, former prime minister Chung Won-sik was selected as a candidate.

In 1996, Lee was re-elected as a member of the Korean National Assembly. He represented Jongno-gu in Seoul. At the election, one of his opposition was another future President Roh Moo-hyun. Roh was ranked 3rd place.

After he became a second-term lawmaker, it was disclosed that he had spent excessively in his election campaign. He resigned in 1998 before being fined 4 million won for breaking the Election Law.^[12] The by-election that was held after his resignation, Roh Moo-hyun was elected as his successor.

In 2002, Lee ran for mayor of Seoul and won the election. However, he was fined for beginning election activities too early. Lee escaped the two-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors. During his tenure as mayor, he was noted for the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon, a popular stream in Seoul.

Mayor of Seoul

Lee's most visible contribution as Mayor of Seoul was to remove an elevated highway that ran through central Seoul and construct a multi-million dollar public recreation space, Cheonggyecheon. The site was a natural stream in pre-industrial times; Lee had been personally responsible for the construction of a highway over the stream, which caused environmental damage. Although the construction project to build the elevated highway over Cheonggyecheon, which caused the environmental damage, was carried out by Hyundai Construction, it was, in fact, the national enterprise strongly promoted by the then-president Park Chung-hee in collaboration with the then-mayor of Seoul, Kim Hyun-ok.^[13]Lee also revamped the city's transportation system, adding rapid transit buses.^[14]

Another ambitious project was Seoul Forest. It was Seoul's answer to New York‘s Central Park or London's Hyde Park. Seoul Forest provides Seoul residents with a vast green space with 400,000 trees and 100 different animals, including deer and elk. The park opened in June 2005 after taking just one year to build.^[15]

Lee also worked to transform the area around Seoul City Hall from a concrete traffic circle to a lawn where people can gather. The 2002 World Cup showed how the area could be used as a cultural space that came to be known as Seoul Plaza. In May 2004, the tape was cut to open a newly built park in the area, a grassy field where Seoul residents could come to relax and take in cultural performances.^[16] The major accomplishment during his term as a Mayor of Seoul would be the restoration of Cheonggyecheon. With his unremitting drive, the stream could now flow through the heart of Seoul and turned the place into not only a modern public recreation space, but also a treasure house for the ecosystem. Citizen of Seoul was not the only one that paid tribute of praise to President Lee. In May 2006, Asian times reported that "Seoul, once a symbol of concrete jungle, has achieved successful transformation of its face into a green oasis and now it is inculcating upon other Asian citites with the love of environment', inserting the picture of Lee standing ankle-deep in the waters of Cheonggyecheon stream. Moreover, in October 2007, President Lee was chosen as the 'Hero of Environment' in Times magazine along with the former U.S. vice president, Al Gore.^[17][18]

Presidential Election

Main article: South Korean presidential election, 2007

On May 10, 2007, Lee officially declared his intention to run for the Grand National Party as its presidential candidate. On August 20 2007, he defeated Park Geun-hye in the GNP's primary to become its nominee for the 2007 Presidential election. During the primary, Lee was accused of profiting from illegal speculation on land owned in Dogok, an expensive district in Seoul.^[19] However, on August 2007, the prosecutors said in the interim announcement that "We do suspect Lee's brother's claim over the land in Dogok-dong, but have failed to verify the real owner of the asset".^[20] On September 28 2007, the prosecutory authority officially dropped the suspicion that the Dogok land is under a borrowed-name announcing that "We have done all necessary investigations including tracing the proceeds from the sale of the land and call history and now got to the bottom of this case."^[21]In Dec 2007, a few days before the Presidential election, Lee announced that he would donate all of his assets to society. ^[22]

His stated goals were expressed in the "747 Plan" and included: 7% annual growth in GDP, $40,000 USD per capita, and making Korea the world's seventh largest economy. An important part of his platform was the Grand Korean Waterway (한반도 대운하) project from Busan to Seoul, which he believes will lead to an economic revival. His rivals criticize that the project is unrealistic and too costly to be realized. Others are concerned of possible ill effects that such projects would have on the environment.

Signaling a departure from his previous views on North Korea, Lee announced a plan to "engage" North Korea through investment. Lee promised to form a consultative body with the North to discuss furthering economic ties. The body would have subcommittees on the economy, education, finance, infrastructure and welfare, and a cooperation fund of $40 billion. He promised to seek a Korean Economic Community agreement to establish the legal and systemic framework for any projects emerging from the negotiations. Lee also called for forming an aid office in North Korea as a way of decoupling humanitarian aid from nuclear talks.^[23]

His foreign policy initiative was called MB Doctrine,^[24] which advocates "engaging" North Korea and strengthening the US-Korean alliance.

The BBK Scandal and Kim Kyung-joon

During the 2007 Election, questions about his relationship with a company called BBK were raised. In 1999 Lee set up several companies for electronic financial services. During this time, he met Kim Kyung-joon. Lee established the LKE Bank with Kim Kyung-joon but this enterprise went bankrupt less than a year later and 5,500 investors lost substantial amounts of money. Supposed BBK co-founder Kim Kyung-joon was investigated for large-scale embezzlement and stock price-fixing schemes. Kim Kyung-joon had initially stated that Lee was not involved with the company, and Lee himself denied being associated with BBK, claiming that he had never held even a single share in it. However, Kim later suggested that Lee had in fact directed BBK activities.

Kim Hong-il of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office cleared Lee of any wrongdoing, but three days before the election a video of a speech Lee gave to students at Kwangwoon University in October 2000 surfaced, in which Lee "bragged" that he had founded BBK.^[25] Two days before the election, the National Assembly appointed a special prosecutor to investigate.^[26]

Special Investigator Chung Ho-young declared Lee innocent of accusations related to fraud and the BBK. Critics suggested that investigators may have felt too intimidated to delve too deeply into the case, as they interviewed Lee in a restaurant in Seoul that was once a geisha house.^[27] In contrast, the special prosecutor team announced that the initially-planned interview location was leaked to the media so they urgently decided to do the interview at another location, a Korean restaurant away from the city.They also declared that they were fully prepared and the amount of time allocated for the investigation was sufficient.^[28]

Eventually, prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence and a fine of W30 billion (US$1=W976) for former BBK owner Kim Kyung-joon on charges of stock manipulation and embezzlement. In the final hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court, the prosecutors said Kim, who founded and operated the boiler-room operation is suspected of crimes including embezzlement of W31.9 billion of investors' money, stock manipulation, and the forgery and execution of private documents but has shown no remorse nor repaid his debts. Earlier, Kim Ki-dong, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, said, "This is a case in which an individual person has made a mockery of the Republic of Korea."^[29] As for spreading false rumors about Lee on the eve of the presidential election, the Seoul Central District Court convicted Kim of violating the nation's election law, handing down a one-year prison term. He was given another six months for document forgery to back his attacks on Lee. ^[30] Kim admitted in the end that President Lee had nothing to do with the BBK scandal and that he tried to avoid the criminal liability by manipulating the circumstance Korea was in. ^[31]Prosecutors said in a statement that Kim had been changing the story with endless lies throughout the whole investigation process, making it extremely hard for them to draw up the protocol. He even denied their request to use a lie detector. Prosecutors added by saying, "Kim's defence attorney also made a false statement by saying those who testified against Kim were all liars and committing perjury. This, in fact, is a contradictory statement to the Attorneys-at-Law and attorney ethics".^[32]

Presidency

Lee won the presidential election in December 2007 with 48.7% of the vote.^[33] However, voter turnout was one of the lowest ever for a presidential election in South Korea.^[34] He took the oath of office February 25 2008, vowing to revitalize the economy, strengthen relations with the United States and "deal with" North Korea.^[35] Specifically, Lee declared that he would pursue a campaign of “global diplomacy” and seek further cooperative exchanges with regional neighbors Japan, China, and Russia. Furthermore, he pledged to strengthen South Korea-United States relations and also implement a tougher policy with regards to North Korea, ideas that are promoted as the MB Doctrine. Lee stated that he wanted to restore better relations with the United States through a greater emphasis on free market solutions.^[36][37]

Two months after his inauguration, Lee's approval ratings stood at 28%,^[38] and by June 2008 they had reached 17%.^[39] Bush and Lee also discussed the ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement or KORUS FTA, which faces opposition from legislators in both countries. While it was expected that Lee’s agreement during the summit to partially lift the ban on U.S. beef imports would remove the obstacles in approving the KORUS FTA in the U.S., ^[40] many Koreans protested the resumption of U.S. beef imports.^[41]

As protests escalated, the Korean government issued a statement warning that violent protesters would be punished and measures would be taken to stop clashes between police and protesters. The protest continued for more that two months adn the original purpose of the candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports has been replaced by others, such as the opposition's violent protest. The damages caused to the businesses around the demonstration were immense and the social cost reached at about 3,751,300,000,000 won. ^[42]Eventually, support for the protesters waned among the general public as the Korean media was shown to have lied about any possible dangers from American beef.^[43]

The privatization plan is a modest but perhaps important step toward reform.^[44] As the government gained more stability, the approval rating of Lee's administration quickly rose to 32.8%. Since the resumption of U.S. beef import, more and more people started to buy U.S. beef and now it has the second largest market share in Korea, following Australian beef.^{[45] [46]}

Domestic Policy

Education policy

Lee has proposed a number of changes to the country's education system, reportedly with the aim of making education more appealing to the upper class. ^[47] In contrast, introducing a tailor-made educational system, the Lee administration established the National Scholarship Foundation that offers services such as student loan and loan counseling. In addition, the government is currently promoting 'Income contingency pay-later scheme' in order to help out those struggling to pay the tuition fee.^[48]Teachers have been highly critical of these changes, arguing that Lee wants to turn education in the country into a "free market" while ignoring the underfunding of education in regions outside the Seoul area.^[49] However, the government designated 82 well-performing high schools in rural areas as 'public boarding school' and granted funds amounting to 317 billion won in total, 3.8 billion won each on average. ^[50] Moreover, the Lee Myung-bak government plans to use a pool of young Korean Americans for the promotion of after-school English education in public schools in rural areas with an aim to improve the quality of education. ^[51]Prior to assuming the presidency, Lee’s transition team announced it would implement a nationwide English-immersion program in order to provide students with the language tools necessary to be successful in a highly globalized world. Under this program, all classes would have been taught in English by 2010. However, Lee abandoned the program after facing strong opposition from parents, teachers, and education specialists. ^[52]Currently he is trying to implement a program where all English courses in middle and secondary schools will be taught in English only. This will require the government to not only educate vast number of teachers in Korea but will also require the government to recruit university students studying abroad in English-speaking countries.

All schools in Gyeonggi Province will hold English-language classes in English only starting 2011, and every school in the province will have native speakers as teaching assistants by 2010. This project is aimed at teaching students to be comfortable speaking with English-speaking foreigners without taking extra classes at private institutions. As part of an employment test starting 2008, applicants have to demonstrate their ability to conduct a class only in the language. Some schools with native-speaking teaching assistants will start so-called English immersion classes from 2008.^[53]

Economic policy

Mbnomics is the term applied to Lee's macroeconomic policy.^[54] The term is derived by combining initials of Myung-bak (Mb) and the term economics (-nomics) to form "Mbnomics".

Kang Man-Soo, the Minister of Strategy and Finance, is credited with the creation and design of Mbnomics.^[55]

The centerpiece of Lee's economic revitalization is his "Korea 7·4·7" plan. The plan takes its names from its goals - to bring 7% economic growth during his term, raise Korea's per capita income to US$40,000, and make Korea the world's seventh largest economy. As Lee puts it, his government is mandated with creating a new Korea where "the people are affluent, society is warm and the state strong." To do this, he plans to follow a pragmatic, market-friendly strategy: Smart Market Economy, Empirical Pragmatism, Democratic Activism.^[56]

Nowadays Lee wanted to move to low-carbon growth in coming decades. The government hopes to be a bridge between rich and poor countries in fighting global warming by setting itself 2020 goals for greenhouse gas emissions.^[57] In connection with the recent financial shock from the United States, President Lee emphasized the importance of solid cooperation between political and business circles. Lee also proposed a tripartite meeting among the finacne ministers of South Korea, Japan, and China aimed at coordinating policies to cope with the credit crisis. ^[58]

Canal

Main article: Grand Korean Waterway

Hong Jong-ho, an economist at Hanyang University, has claimed that the Grand Korean Waterway would create an “environmental disaster” that would worsen flooding and pollute the two rivers that supply drinking water for two-thirds of the country's population. He also said the waterway would be the most expensive construction project in South Korean history, costing as much as $50 billion. Some studies suggest that the Grand canal project, once completed, will block the source of affected water into the river and the dredging will remove the polluted sediments from the river bed which eventually will result in greater water quality, improving self-purification function of the river and facilitating the restoration of the ecosystem. Few opponents of the project argue that during the construction process, damage to the environment could be caused by the concrete facility. However, the study objects the idea by saying that when environment-friendly method of construction like the 'swamp-restoration' is adopted, this would rather bring a positive effect such as improving the Han river.^[59]Buddhist groups have voiced fears that it would submerge nearby Buddhist relics,^[60] which would cause irreparable damage to a significant portion of Korea's cultural legacy.^[61] On the other hand, some say once the Kyungboo Canal is developed, another 177 cultural assets could be discovered during excavations which could be used for tourist attraction. In particular, the development of the Canal will increase the accessibility to cultural assets that are far to reach, and hence more efficient management of those assets would be possible.^[62] Lee's promise to build the Grand Korean Waterway has stalled due to low public opinion.^[63]

If successful, Lee maintains his plan, which would include dredging and other measures to improve Korea's waterways, will improve the condition of Korea's polluted rivers, bring tremendous economic benefits to local communities, create much needed jobs, boost tourism and slash transportation costs. Speaking in 2005 about the project, Lee said, "Many journalists questioned me why I keep commenting on the building of the canal. However, it's a simple fact that many cities around the world were benefited by making the best use of their rivers and seas."^[64] At a special conference held on June 19, 2008 President Lee announced that he will drop the Grand Canal project if the public opposes to the idea and the Premiere confirmed this statement on September 8, 2008.^[65]

The inland waterway project has sparked interest not only in Korea, but overseas as well. Foreign investors, for instance, have expressed interest. According to a recent report, letters of interest have been received from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Germany and the Netherlands.^[66]

Cabinet Appointments

Lee Myung-bak has faced strong criticism over his choice of political appointees – many of whom are wealthy. The concern is that Lee’s appointees will favor policies that protect the rich while failing to address the needs of the underprivileged. Another criticism is that these appointees have been mostly chosen from the nation's southeast region (Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do), which is known as a GNP stronghold. ^[67] While the fact that the property owned by high officials including ministers has increased on average, most of them were legally obtained and inherited property. Those ministers involved in the allegation of illegal real-estate spectulation were already replaced. Hence, the average property owned by the three replaced ministers were only 1.7 billion won. ^[68] In order to set aside the alleged regional bias, Lee's first cabinet appointment procedure faithfully abided by the principles and rules by appointing 4 from Seoul and Yeongnam district, 3 from Honam, Gangwon, and Chungcheong province, and 1 from North Korea.^[69] Moreover, Lee's administration increased the welfare budget by 9% to help the poorest maintain the living and middle class' stability, and is pursuing many more policies for the benefit of the public than the former government.^[70] Tax reforms including 'comprehensive property tax cut' is not to benefit the wealthy and the haves, but to correct a wrongful tax according to the market principle. ^[71]Lee has also had to face corruption charges leveled at his administration. Three appointees have already resigned amid suspicions of corruption. And Lee’s top intelligence chief and anticorruption aide face accusations that they received bribes from The Samsung Group. Both Samsung and Lee denied the charges. ^[72] Those involved in the allegation of receiveing bribes from Samsung group have been cleared of charges after special prosecutory investigation. ^[73]

Lee on July 7th 2008 named Ahn Byong-man, a presidential advisor for state future planning, as his new minister of education, science and technology. Jang Tae-pyoung, a former secretary general of the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, becomes minister of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and Grand National Party lawmaker Jeon Jae-hee minister of health, welfare and family affairs. In addition, Lee gave Prime Minister Han Seung-soo another chance in the belief that no proper working conditions have been provided for the Cabinet due to many pending issues since the inauguration of the new administration.^[74]

Foreign Policy

Lee is widely considered pro-U.S.^[75] In mid-April 2008, Lee traveled to the United States for his first official overseas visit to meet with US President George W. Bush at the White House and Camp David. Lee’s more aggressive approach towards North Korea was described as a welcome change for Bush, who was often at odds with Roh Moo-hyun. For a decade, the former government's controversial and endless handing out of massive aid to North Korea, which they took as granted, in the name of the 'National Coexistence, Independence' has failed to effectuate change in the North. Most of all, the former government neglected the discussion on the nuclear issue with the North during the summit twice and struck a mass aid deal without any sort of social consensus and examination on the ways and means of the funding, creating unnecessary burden to the Korean people. The government's stance towards North Korea is not to disrespect the agreement made between the heads of the two Koreas but to mull over the economic feasibility and realizable possibility through negotiation based on mutual trust and respect, and prioriting going forward with the project.^[76] During a press conference, the two leaders expressed hope that North Korea would disclose the details of their nuclear weapons program, and pledged their commitment to resolve the issue through the multilateral Six-party talks. ^[77] Lee also gave assurances that both the U.S. and South Korea would use dialogue to end the crisis.

North Korean Policy

A longtime opponent of the Sunshine Policy carried out by his predecessors Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, Lee shifted towards a more aggressive policy on North Korea, promising to provide massive economic assistance but only after North Korea abandoned its suspected nuclear weapons programs. The ultimate goal of the administration regarding inter-Korean relation is based on the "non-nuclear, openness, 3000" plan that entails reciprocity and mutual benefit between the two Koreas in order to achieve economic advancement and vring about happiness among the people living in the Korean peninsula. The current inter-Korean situation is undergoing a massive transitional period. The administration, however, made it clear that it will pursure a more productive policy that eventually would contribute to the peaceful reunification, but only after North Korea gives up its nuclear ambitions and adopt a more open-minded approach. The North Korean government viewed this as confrontational and responded by calling Lee a “traitor” and an “anti-North confrontation advocator”. The North Korean response included the expulsion of South Korean officials from an inter-Korean industrial complex, the launching of naval missiles into the sea, and the deployment of MIGs and army units provocatively close to the DMZ. Domestically, Lee's critics claim his strategy will only serve to antagonize the Kim Jong-il regime and undermine progress towards friendly North Korea-South Korea relations^[78]

There are some critics in Korea who argue that inter-Korean relations have been rapidly deteriorating, mainly because the Lee Myung-bak government persisted on differentiating its North Korean policies from those of the former Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments, ignoring the agreements previously made at the North-South summit and pursued a hardline policy. ^[79]

However, Lee Myung-bak in fact has never explicitly refused to honor those previous agreements but rather has maintained that there are many other inter-Korean agreements as well which have not been honored and that both Koreas should have frank dialogue with each other to break the stalemate.

US Beef Imports

Main article: US beef imports in South Korea

Lee received calls for resignation after detractors claimed he kowtowed to the US government over the importation of US beef, which had been tainted by mad cow disease in previous years.

Concerns over a possible threat to public health from US beef imports in South Korea in relation to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement caused popular opposition to the Lee administration to grow. The government's original agreement with the U.S. had limited beef imports to meat produced from cattle under three years of age because younger cattle are thought to be at lower risk of contracting mad cow disease (BSE). This limitation was similar to the agreement between Japan and the U.S.; shortly after Lee's visit to the U.S., the agreement was altered to remove limitations on cattle age. Many Koreans considered this a betrayal, and there was talk of attempting to impeach Lee. Lee later said that a deal had been reached that may allow Korea to ban U.S. beef if it is found to pose a threat to public health. Under the deal, in the event of a recognized outbreak of BSE, the U.S. government will conduct an investigation and inform Korea of the results. Korea can suspend imports, according to the agreement, "if the additional case(s) results in the World Organization for Animal Health recognizing an adverse change in the classification of the U.S. BSE status." The United States is currently recognized as a BSE-controlled country.^[80]

In an interview, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said the policy will be pursued "with the maximum prudence, as it will take time for the U.S. to grasp the situation in Korea and gather opinions inside the industry." The government's policy is to ban import of beef from older cattle "under any circumstances, either through renegotiations between governments or self-regulation by importers."^[81]

U.S. bone-in beef from cattle slaughtered and processed according to Korea's new import regulations, the Quality System Assesment(QSA), is now sold in Korea but US beef is still not available in major supermarkets due to the perceived health risk.^[82] The Seoul Southern District Court ordered MBC to air a correction by the popular MBC current affairs program "PD Notebook", saying that the report was partially wrong and exaggerated the threat of mad cow disease. The public anger towards resuming the beef deal is now regaining its composure as many people began to buy U.S. beef. The market share of U.S. beef currently stands (Sept 23) at 28.8% following Australian beef (top seller), but for 10-days prior to Korea's thanksgiving day, it was ranked the first among its competitors.^[83]

Criticism

Political freedoms

Under the Lee Myung-bak administration, police are reportedly moving to restrict assemblies and demonstrations depending on their purposes as well as imposing fines on people who refuse on-the-street demands to present identification.^[84] Lee has been called "authoritarian,"^[85] "pro-big business and anti-labor." Lee vowed in 2007 to "get rid of" political and "hard-line" unions.^[86]

Amnesty International highly criticized the human rights violation caused by the presidency of Lee Myung-bak. Amnesty International accused Lee Myung Bak of ordering South Korean police to use excessive force against protestors who were demonstrating against Lee's policies.^[87] In an interview with Time magazine, President Lee said, "I fully understand the protesters' point of view on the matter" and regarding the long-lasting demonstration, he added, "Protesting culture has a deep-root in democracy of Korea and despite the ongoing political upheaval of this country, the enthusiasm that the protesters showed is one side of the dynamism we embrace and this will eventually be a positive drive of Korea's development".^[88]

Press freedoms

The International Federation of Journalists have condemned changes being made in the management of major broadcast media in South Korea which amount to political interference. ^[89] The Lee government has been accused of trying to manipulate media to suit its political tastes by appointing executives to state-run broadcasting and some key public enterprises who are his supporters.

The Lee government has also been accused of appointing his close associates to presidencies of SKY LIFE satellite broadcasting and 24 hours news channel YTN, both of which supported his presidential campaign. The chief executives of Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation and the English broadcasting company, Arirang TV have been replaced by government supporters.

It has also been suggested that Lee is trying to change the top executive of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), the country's most powerful television network. However, former CEO of KBS was fired after the inspection carried out by Audit and Inspection Board due to the lack of qualifications in terms of expertise and the newly appointed CET, Lee Byungsoon, has never been associated with politics. In addition, the fact that the new CEO of YTN and KOBACO helped his presidential campaign was for their own career background as a professional broadcaster and they were all appointed through legal procedures.^[90][91] In addition the Lee government has been under suspicion of trying to control television programmes that are critical of the government according to local journalists. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (a Korean television network) is under court investigation over a program dealing with a beef trade deal with the United States which the IFJ local affiliate, the Journalists' Association of Korea (JAK) says is against press freedom and is in breach of the promise protecting Journalists. The program, known as 'PD Diary', was found to deliberately distort 19 conspicuous parts of the program, including several deliberate mistranslations, which the Lee administration saw as being at least partially responsible for sparking the U.S. beef protests. ^[92][93][94] The translator, Ji-Min Jung, disclosed that the producers of the program had intentionally distorted the original translation and the prosecutor's investigation result confirmed on July 31 that a false representation was made. Following this investigation, the broadcast company admitted that huge mistakes were made in translation medical terminology and that a presenter had given incorrect commentary.^[95][96]

Religion

Some feel that Lee's religious beliefs present a threat to Buddhism in Korea. When Lee was mayor of Seoul, he declared the city "a holy place governed by God" and the citizens of Seoul "God's people." He went on to dedicate the city "to the Lord." In 2006, Lee also sent a video prayer message to a Christian rally where the worship leader called on God to "let the Buddhist temples in this country crumble down!" Lee reportedly received 80% of Korea's Christian votes.^[97]

In August 2008, Buddhist monks protested against Myung-bak's pro-Christian politics.^[98] Lee Myung-bak and his government has been accused by many Buddhist groups, including the influential Jogye order, of discriminating against and promoting hostility toward Buddhism.^[99] According to Buddhists, Christian persecution of Buddhism has intensified in South Korea in recent years. Christians have maltreated and humiliated Buddhist laity and monks, burned down temples, and vandalized Sutras and devotional items. ^[100] A former pastor and presidential secretary showed the government's hostility and intolerance toward Buddhism when he compared the protesters against religious discrimination to “Satan’s minions.”^[101] The Buddhist community accepted (Sept 9) President Lee's expression of deep regret over his government's alleged discrimination against Buddhists and bias in favor of Christians. The committee comprised of leaders from all Buddhist sectors said that they had considered Lee's apology sincere and taking into consideration the increasing social conflict and economic hardship, they decided to take President Lee's remarks positively. The discomfort among the Buddhists has gradually appeased since then. ^[102][103]

Canal

Hong Jong-ho, an economist at Hanyang University, has claimed that the Grand Korean Waterway would create an “environmental disaster” that would worsen flooding and pollute the two rivers that supply drinking water for two-thirds of the country's population. He also said the waterway would be the most expensive construction project in South Korean history, costing as much as $50 billion. Buddhist groups have voiced fears that it would submerge nearby Buddhist relics,^[104] which would cause irreparable damage to a significant portion of Korea's cultural legacy.^[105]

Foreign policy

Lee is widely considered pro-U.S.^[106] Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, a think tank that often advises the government, argues that inter-Korean relations have been rapidly deteriorating, mainly because the Lee Myung-bak government persisted on differentiating its North Korean policies from those of the former Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments, ignoring the agreements previously made by the North-South summit and pursued a hardline policy.^[107]

Cabinet Appointments

Lee Myung-bak has faced strong criticism over his choice of political appointees – many of whom are wealthy. The concern is that Lee’s appointees will favor policies that protect the rich while failing to address the needs of the underprivileged. Another criticism is that these appointees have been mostly chosen from the nation's southeast region, which is reputably known as a GNP stronghold. ^[108] Lee has also had to face corruption charges leveled at his administration. Three appointees have already resigned amid suspicions of corruption. And Lee’s top intelligence chief and anticorruption aide face accusations that they received bribes from The Samsung Group. Both Samsung and Lee denied the charges. ^[109]

Education policy

Lee has proposed a number of changes to the country's education system, reportedly with the aim of making education more appealing to the upper class. ^[110] Teachers have been highly critical of these changes, arguing that Lee wants to turn education in the country into a "free market" while ignoring the underfunding of education in regions outside the Seoul area.^[111]Prior to assuming the presidency, Lee’s transition team announced it would implement a nationwide English-immersion program in order to provide students with the language tools necessary to be successful in a highly globalized world. Under this program, all classes would have been taught in English by 2010. However, Lee abandoned the program after facing strong opposition from parents, teachers, and education specialists. ^[112]

References

Additional reading

• The Chosun Ilbo, Korean government cannot afford to alienate Buddhists
• The Hankyoreh, Police pressuring Buddhists
• The JoongAng Daily, Lee's ascent marked by persistence
• The Hankyoreh, Who is Lee Myung-bak?
• The Korea Times, Economy-First Trademark Gives Lee Myung-bak Edge
• The Chosun Ilbo, TIME Names Lee Myung-bak 'Hero of Environment'
• Meet the Presidential Hopefuls: Lee Myung-bak at The Korea Times
• Interview with the Korea IT Times, September 2005
• "Seoul mayor sued for traffic chaos", People's Daily, July 14, 2004
• Interview with the Korea Times, July 1, 2004
• The Evolution of a Man Called ‘Bulldozer’ NYT, December 20, 2007
• Sicko KOREA Movie, What's going on in South Korea?? by Jay KIM, June 2008

External links

• Official Website (in English)
• Official website (in Korean)
• Lee Myung-bak's Cyworld Minihomepage
• Collection of links related to Lee Myung-bak

Political offices
Preceded by Roh Moo-hyun	President of South Korea 2008 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Goh Kun	Mayor of Seoul 2002 – 2006	Succeeded by Oh Se-hoon

Presidents of South Korea Provisional Government Rhee Syng-man · Park Eunsik · Yi Sang-ryong · Hong Jin · Yi Dong-nyung · Kim Gu Republic Rhee Syng-man · Yun Bo-seon · Park Chung-hee · Choi Kyu-hah · Chun Doo-hwan · Roh Tae-woo · Kim Young-sam · Kim Dae-jung · Roh Moo-hyun · Lee Myung-bak