Lee Myung-bak 이명박 李明博
President-elect of South Korea
Assuming office February 25, 2008
Premier	Han Duck-soo
Succeeding	Roh Moo-hyun
Personal details
Born	(1941-12-19) 19 December 1941 (age 82) Hirano, Osaka, Japan
Political party	GNP
Spouse	Kim Yun-ok

Template:Korean name Lee Myung-bak (IPA: [i.mʲʌŋ.bak̚]) (born December 19, 1941 in Osaka, Japan) is the President-elect of South Korea and a former mayor of Seoul. He will succeed the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun as the president of South Korea on February 25, 2008. He is a member of the Grand National Party. Lee has stated that he wants to restore relations with the United States and for a greater emphasis on free market solutions.^[1]

With 49% of the vote, he defeated his rivals Chung Dong-young (26%) and Lee Hoi-chang (15%).^[2]

Early life and education

Lee was born in Hirano-ku, Osaka, Japan where his father worked at a cattle ranch. His family returned to Korea shortly after the Second World War in 1945. He was the fifth child and grew up with three brothers and three sisters in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Lee spent his childhood helping his mother sell ice cream, wheat flour cakes, cloth, fruit, matches, and candy. His family was poorer than many other South Koreans at this time. His mother was an inspiration for his book Mother.

He took evening classes from Dongji Commercial High School. He then went to Seoul to receive his university education. During the day, he worked as a garbage collector and studied for his university entrance exam at night. He gained admission to Korea University where he majored in business administration.

Early political life

As a university student, Lee ran for the chairman of the student council and won the position, and also got involved in street politics. In 1964, he participated in a student demonstration against the normalization of Korea-Japan relations and was imprisoned for six months for his role. As was the case for many students who participated in such demonstrations, his record became an obstacle in his search for employment.

Economic background

Lee wrote to then President Park Chung-hee criticizing the practice of disallowing student demonstrators entrance into mainstream society, a policy change that could directly affect his ability to gain employment. In 1965 he joined Hyundai Engineering and Construction.

It was during his employment here that he met his mentor and Hyundai founder Chung Ju-Yung. The company's size was 90 employees and was expanding its operations in the Middle East during Korea's economic boom of the 1960's and 1970's. Within 5 years, he became an executive and became president in 1977.

It was during his three decades with the Hyundai Group that Lee earned the nickname "Bulldozer" for his drive to push through challenges. In one instance, he completely took apart a bulldozer to study its mechanism and figure out why it kept breaking down. 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. ^[3]

Lee's wealth was made during the real estate boom that occurred in South Korea during the 1970s through the 1990s. Through a series of real estate speculations Lee amassed over US$40 million.

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 Kwan Yew, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamed, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1988, 23 years after starting with the company, he became the chairman of the company. At that time, the company had expanded to 160,000 employees worldwide.

After being forced to leave the company for which he worked for 27 years, he decided to enter politics.

Mayor of Seoul

The rapid development that remade the nation and lifted millions like Lee out of poverty had a lasting effect on South Korea. Seoul which, while having been transformed from a semi-feudal city to one with modern infrastructure, had also seen its urbanism suffer in the process. Lee said he tried to achieve a balance between function and the environment.^[4]

He told the city's people that he would remove the elevated highway that ran through the heart of Seoul and restore the buried Cheonggyecheon stream — an urban waterway that Lee himself had helped pave over in the 1960s. His opponents insisted that the plan would cause traffic chaos and cost billions. Three years later, Cheonggyecheon was reborn changing the face of Seoul. Lee also revamped the city's transportation system, adding clean rapid-transit buses.

Presidential bid

On May 10, 2007, Lee officially declared his intention to run for the Grand National Party as its presidential candidate. On Monday, August 20, 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 real estate speculation from land that he owned in Dogok, a highly expensive district in Seoul.

A major policy of his platform is a canal project from Busan to Seoul, which he believes will lead to an economic revival. His stated goals are expressed in the 747 plan, which are: 7% annual growth in GDP, $40,000 USD per capita, and making Korea the world's seventh largest economy. His rivals criticize that the project is unrealistic and costly to be realized. Others are concerned of possible ill effects that such projects would have to the environment.

On September 6, 2007, the South Korean presidential office announced that it would file forthwith a libel case against Lee. Chief presidential secretary Moon Jae-In said that the case would be filed to preserve trust in the government.^[5]

Signaling a departure from his previous views on North Korea, Lee announced a comprehensive plan for engaging North Korea involving investment as opposed to aid. Lee promised to form a consultative body with the North to discuss furthering economic ties. The body would have subcommittees on economy, education, finance, infrastructure and welfare and a cooperation fund of $40 billion. He would 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.^[6]

Presidency

His foreign policy initiative is called MB Doctrine,^[7] which advocates engaging North Korea and strengthening the US-Korean alliance.

Personal life

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. He was exempt from military service due to respiratory complications.

Quote

From his 1995 autobiography "There Is No Such Thing As Miracle Business"

"People call me an architect of miracle business. From a third person's perspective, my success could be seen as a combination of a winning streak and a lucky break. My interpretation is a little different. The real business world is exposed to a variety of business threats... The source of my success in the business world is decisiveness and courage. I was able to turn challenges into business opportunities with personal traits."

Additional reading

• 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

External links

• Official Website (in English)
• Official website (in Korean)
• Lee Myung Bak's Cyworld Minihomepage

References

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