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

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Lee Myung-bak (Korean: 이명박, Hanja: 李明博, born December 19, 1941 in Hirano, 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. As mayor of Seoul, he was known for his controversial policy initiatives, including the restoration of Cheonggyecheon. 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.

He defeated his rivals Chung Dong-Young and Lee Hoi-chang (who made a third presidential bid) with 50% of the vote and 26% and 13% respectively.

Lee was born in the Hirano ward of 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, as was the case for many Koreans at that time. Lee 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 on a big straw hat so that he would be unrecognizable. His mother encouraged him by telling him to have confidence in what he did. 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 worked 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.

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 Japan-Korea 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.

Due to his hardship, 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. Whether this was the cause of his acceptance or not, 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. 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.

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.

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 Kyung-joon, who was embroiled in an embezzlement case at BBK, through Kim's sister, Erica. It is believed that Lee and Erica has had intimate relations. Kim 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 Kyung-joon, but this enterprise went bankrupt less than a year later and 5,500 investors lost substantial amounts of money.

In 2002, he ran for the mayor of Seoul and was elected. However, he was fined for beginning electioneering activities too early. He escaped the two-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors. During his tenure, he was noted for the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon -- despite strong opposition, controversial changes to the public transportation (bus) system, and the revitalization of green spaces.

The restoration of Cheonggyecheon was possible by sacrificing the people who made their living as street vendors or merchants along the stream's corridor. Due to the abrupt planning and the policy making that went on during the restoration, many people were forced to move out of their homes without adequate compensation for the loss.

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The rapid development that remade the nation and lifted millions like Lee out of poverty left lasting scars on South Korea. This was true as well in Seoul which, while having been metamorphosed from a semi-feudal city to one with modern infrastructure in the previous four decades, had also seen its urbanism suffer in the process. Lee tried to achieve a balance between function and the environment, and he tried to put the environment first.^{[citation needed]}

So the "Bulldozer" (a nickname given to Lee) went green — and in dramatic fashion. He told the city's people that he would tear out the jam-packed elevated highway that ran through the heart of Seoul and restore the buried Cheonggyecheon stream — a foul 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, but he won election. Lee persuaded merchants of the affected area in person, considering the opposition of vendors and merchants. Eventually, negotiation between Lee and the merchants of Cheonggycheon was successful. Three years later, Cheonggyecheon was reborn which changed the face of Seoul. More quietly, Lee also revamped the city's transportation system, adding clean rapid-transit buses. But his lasting accomplishment was in changing the Asian political dynamic, showing that environmentalism can go hand in hand with development.

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.

He has come under fire for saying that mothers carrying mentally disabled babies 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 order to speculate on the land. In his defense, he said he did this for electoral purposes and for his children's education. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help)

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.

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

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.^[1]

In August of 2007, Lee's character was once again questioned when he publicly stated to a meeting of South Korea's leading newspaper editors that as part of his "life's wisdom" he believed that "when you go to a massage girl (prostitute), be sure to pick up an ugly one because too many men have used the pretty ones. And the ugly girl will be grateful to you and do her best to please you." Reporters noted that Lee has a record of sexist comments and a number of South Korean women's organizations considered him to be "anti-women."^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

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."

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. Chosun Ilbo "TIME Names Lee Myung-bak 'Hero of Environment'" http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200710/200710170022.html

• Official Website (in English)
• 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.

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