Lee Myung-bak (born 19 December1941) is a Korean politician and thePresident of South Korea. Prior to hispresidency, he was the CEO of HyundaiEngineering and Construction and themayor of Seoul.
PresidencyIn spite of the lowest voter turnoutever for a presidential election in SouthKorea, Lee won the presidential electionin December 2007 with 48.7% of the votewhich was considered to be a landslide.
He took the oath of office February 25, 2008, vowing to revitalize theeconomy, strengthen relations with the United States and “deal with”
North Korea. Specifically, Lee declared that he would pursue a campaign of“global diplomacy” and seek further cooperative exchanges with regionalneighbors Japan, China, and Russia. Furthermore, he pledged to strengthenSouth Korea-United States relations and also implement a tougher policywith 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 marketsolutions。
Two months after his inauguration, Lee’sapproval ratings stood at 28%, and by June2008 they had reached 17%. Bush and Leealso discussed the ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement or KORUSFTA, which faces opposition from legislatorsin both countries. While it was expected thatLee’s agreement during the summit to partiallylift the ban on U.S. beef imports would remove the obstacles in approving theKORUS FTA in the U.S., many Koreans protested the resumption of U.S.
beef imports.
As protests escalated, the Korean government issued a statementwarning that violent protesters would be punished and measures wouldbe taken to stop clashes between police and protesters. The protestcontinued for more than two months and the original purpose of thecandlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports has been replaced by others,such as opposition to the privatization of public companies, educationpolicy, and construction of the Canal. The damages caused by protestersto the businesses around the demonstration and the social cost reachedapproximately 3,751,300,000,000 won. Eventually, support for theprotesters waned amongst the general public. According to the WallStreet Journal, Lee’s plan to privatize public companies was a modest but“perhaps important step” toward reform.
