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Lee Myung-bak (Korean: 이명박, Hanja: 李明博, born December 19, 1941 in Hirano, Osaka, Osaka, Japan) is a former mayor of Seoul, the Republic of Korea and is considered a major contender to succeed Roh Moo-hyun as president. He is a member of the Grand National Party. As mayor of Seoul, he was known for his innovative policy initiatives and especially for the restoration of Cheonggyecheon stream. He is regarded as a conservative and has called for South Korea to take a harder line on North Korea and for a greater emphasis on free market solutions.

Early Life and Education

He was born in Osaka, Japan where his father worked at a cattle ranch. His family returned shortly after the liberation of Korea in 1945. When they arrived on the shores of Korea, they lost everything because their boat sank. He was the fifth child and grew up with three brothers and three sisters in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, in extreme poverty. He spent his childhood helping his mother sell ice cream, wheat flour cakes, cloth, fruit, matches, and candy. One of the most embarrassing moments of his life was when he sold popcorn to high school girls his age. He would be so shy selling that he used to put a big straw hat so that he would be unrecognizable. His mother encouraged him by telling to have confidence in what he does. His mother was an inspiration for his book "Mother".

He took evening classes from Dongji Commercial High School since the tuition was waived. He then went to Seoul to receive his university education. During the day, he labored as a garbage collector and studied for his university entrance exam at night. Even though he did not have the money for the tuition, he reasoned that it was better to be a university drop out than to be just a high school graduate. He ultimately 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 poltics. In 1964, he participated in the student demonstrations against the normalization of Korea-Japan relations and was imprisoned for six months for his role. His record became an obstacle in his search for employment, but this only inspired him more.

Economic Background

Due to his hardship, Lee wrote to then President Park Chung-hee criticizing the practice of disallowing student demonstrators entrance into mainstream society. Whether this was the cause of his acceptance or not, in 1965 he joined Hyundai Engineering and Construction as an entry-level but was blacklisted due to his involvement in a single student demonstration.

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. His critics, however, charge that this position was largely ceremonial in nature and the result of his personal friendship with the founder and not due to any education or experience he had. During his time at Hyundai Lee gained little real experience as an actual CEO, which runs counter to his stated claim that he would be an "economic president."

Lee's route to wealth was also 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. By registering much of his properties under other people's names, Lee evaded existing tax laws that placed a heavy tax burden upon people who owned more than 1 or 2 properties.

In this capacity 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.

Lee had a falling out with Chung in 1992 over the KBS drama "Time of Ambition" that Chung believed was about his life. It was later discovered that it was his protege. After being forced to leave the company for which he has worked for 27 years, he decided to enter into politics. At the same time, Chung also entered into the political arena by running against the eventual winner, Kim Young-sam. His rise in the company (he became a board of director in his 20s, a CEO at 35, and vice president in his 40s) is widely attributed to his personal friendship with the founder.

Incidents of Corruption and Illegalities

Elected to the National Assembly of South Korea in 1992, Lee has several times run afoul of campaign finance laws and was accused of physically assaulting an election worker. As a result he had to resign his seat.

In 1995, Lee failed to win the nomination for the Seoul mayor after a battle with former prime minister Chung Won-sok. He was fined 4 million won in 1996, and was indicted.

Due to the fallout, Lee left Korea and became a visiting professor to George Washington University in 1998. After returning in 1999, he set up several companies for electronic financial services. During this time, he met Kim Gyeong-joon, who was embroiled in a embezzlement case at BBK. Lee was accused of manipulating the stock prices and lying to investors about the company's financial situation. As part of this, Lee had established the LKE Bank with Kim Gyeong-joon, but this enterprise went backrupt less than a year later and 5,500 investors lost substantial amounts of money.

In 2002, he ran for the mayor of Seoul was elected. However, he was fined for beginning electioneering activities too early. He escaped the two-year sentence sought by prosecutors. During his tenure, he was noted for the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon (cheon=stream in English) despite strong opposition, changes to the public transportation (bus) system and the revitalization of green spaces. He is credited with the renewed interest in the greening of urban environments.

Presidential Bid

On May 10, 2007, Lee officially declared his intention to run for the Grand National Party as its presidential candidate. Although he was not completely satisfied with the primary rules, he committed to comply with the rules set out by the party leadership. 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 profitting off of real estate speculation from land that he allegedly owned in Dogok, an expensive area in Seoul.

During his bid, he wrote and released a book called "Uhmonee" (Korean: 어머니 meaning mother) which shares the struggles and sacrifices his mother made for him. His mother had taught him never to be ashamed of his humble roots.

He recently came under fire for saying that mothers with mentally disabled fetus should have them aborted. He later apologized for his remark. Lee was also accused of registering his name in districts he did not actually live in. In his defense, he said he did this for electoral purposes and for his children's education.

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 too ideal and money-consuming to be realized, and some are afraid of its bad effect to the environment.

He has consistently topped all presidential contender polls since 2006 and is currently considered the favored candidate.

On September 6, 2007, the South Korea presidential office announced that it would file forthwith a libel case against conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) (frontrunner in December's election), Lee Myung-Bak. Myung-Bak enjoys 50% support in opinion polls against 10% for the leading candidate of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) Roh Moo-Hyun. Moon Jae-In, chief presidential secretary, stated that the criminal case will be filed to preserve trust in the government.

Personal Life

Lee is married to Kim Yun-ok (b. 1947) and has three daughters and one son. Lee is also a declared Christian who is an elder at Somang Presbyterian Church in Seoul. He was also exempted from military service due to respiratory complications.

Quotes

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 winnng streak and luck 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."

Sources

1. JoongAng Daily "Lee's ascent marked by persistence" http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2879518

2. The Hankyoreh "Who is Lee Myung-bak?" http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/230316.html

3. The Korea Times "Economy-First Trademark Gives Lee Myung-bak Edge" http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/08/180_8650.html

4. "10 Reasons Why Lee Myungbak Should Not Be President" http://www.newsprism.org/news/article.html?no=4466

External links

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

References

1. Channelnewsasia.com, South Korea presidency to sue opposition frontrunner

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• South Korean politicians
• Zainichi Koreans
• Living people
• 1941 births