Lee Myung-bak
Lee Myung-bak , often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean politician and business executive who served as the tenth president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. A member of then Saenuri Party, he was the mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2006. Before entering politics, he was the chief executive officer of Hyundai Engineering and Construction.
Born in Osaka during the Empire of Japan, Lee graduated from Korea University. He is married to Kim Yoon-ok and has three daughters and one son. His older brother, Lee Sang-deuk, was a South Korean politician. He is a Christian attending Somang Presbyterian Church. In 2011, Lee received an honorary degree from Paris Diderot University.
Lee altered the South Korean government's approach to North Korea, preferring a more hardline strategy in the wake of increased provocation from the North, though he was supportive of regional dialogue with Russia, China and Japan. Under Lee, South Korea increased its visibility and influence in the global scene, resulting in the hosting of the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. However, significant controversy remains in Korea regarding high-profile government initiatives which have caused some factions to engage in civil opposition and protest against the incumbent government and President Lee's Saenuri Party. The reformist faction within the Saenuri Party was at odds with Lee. He ended his five-year term on 24 February 2013, and was succeeded by Park Geun-hye.
On 22 March 2018, Lee was arrested on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and tax evasion alleged to have occurred during his presidency. Prosecutors accused Lee of receiving bribes totaling 11 billion won and channeling assets of 35 billion won to an illicit slush fund. Shortly before his arrest, Lee posted a handwritten statement on Facebook denying the charges. Lee's arrest occurred roughly a year after the arrest of former president Park Geun-Hye, who was arrested on charges stemming from the 2016 South Korean political scandal. Lee was convicted on 5 October 2018 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On 29 October 2020, the Korean Supreme Court upheld a 17-year sentence against Lee given to him by an appellate court. On 27 December 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol granted Lee a special pardon, cancelling the remaining 15 years of the sentence.
Early life and education
Lee Myung-bak was born 19 December 1941, in Osaka, Japan. His parents emigrated to Japan in 1929, nineteen years after the Japanese annexation of Korea. Lee's father, Lee Chung-u, was employed as a farm labourer in rural Japan, and his mother, Chae Tae-won, was a housewife. He was the fifth of seven children.In 1945, after the end of World War II, his family returned to his father's hometown of Pohang, in North Gyeongsang Province, then an American-occupied portion of the Korean Peninsula. Lee's sister, Lee Ki-sun, believed that they smuggled themselves into the country to avoid having the officials confiscate the property they acquired in Japan. However, their ship was wrecked off the coast of Tsushima island. They lost all their belongings and barely survived. Lee personally witnessed the deaths of his older sister and a younger brother, who were killed in the bombardment of Pohang, during the Korean War.
Lee attended night school at Dongji Commercial High School in Pohang and received a scholarship. A year after graduation, Lee gained admission to Korea University. In 1964, during his third year in college, Lee was elected president of the student council. That year, Lee participated in student demonstrations against President Park Chung Hee's Seoul-Tokyo Talks, taking issue with Japanese restitution for the colonization of the Korean Peninsula. He was charged with plotting insurrection and was sentenced to five years' probation and three years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Korea. He served a little under three months of his sentence at the Seodaemun Prison in Seoul.
In his autobiography, Lee wrote that he was discharged from Korea's mandatory military service due to a diagnosis of acute bronchiectasis while at the Nonsan Training Facility.
Business career
In 1965, Lee started work at Hyundai Construction, the company which was awarded Korea's first-ever overseas construction project, a $5.2 million contract to build the Pattani-Narathiwat Highway in Thailand. Shortly after he was hired by the company, Lee was sent to Thailand to participate in the project, which was successfully completed in March 1968. Lee returned to Korea and was subsequently given charge of Hyundai's heavy machinery plant in Seoul.It was during his three decades with the Hyundai Group that Lee earned the nickname "Raging Bulldozer". On one occasion, he completely dismantled a malfunctioning bulldozer to study its mechanics and figure out how to repair it, only to run it over with another bulldozer that was often operated by Lee himself.
Lee became a company director at the age of 29, five years after he joined the company. He later became the CEO at age 35, becoming Korea's youngest CEO in history. In 1988, he was named chairman of Hyundai Construction at the age of 47.
When he began work at Hyundai in 1965, the company had 90 employees; when he left as chairman 27 years later, it had more than 160,000. Soon after the successful completion of the Pattani-Narathiwat Highway by Hyundai Construction, Korea's construction industry began to focus its efforts on encouraging the creation of new markets in countries such as Vietnam and the Middle East. Following the decline of construction demands from Vietnam in the 1960s, Hyundai Construction turned its focus toward the Middle East. The company continued to be a major player in construction projects with the successful completion of international projects including the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard, the Diplomatic Hotel in Bahrain, and the Jubail Industrial Harbor Projects in Saudi Arabia, also known as "the great history of the 20th century". At that time, the amount of orders received by the Korean construction company exceeded US$10 billion, which contributed to overcoming the national crisis resulting from the oil shock.
Early political career
In 1992, Lee made the transition from business to politics, leaving Hyundai after a 27-year career. He joined the Democratic Liberal Party instead of the Unification National Party, founded by Chung Ju-yung. He was elected as a member of the 14th Korean National Assembly. Upon his election, he stated that he ran for the office because "after watching Mikhail Gorbachev change the world, I wanted to see if I could do the same." In 1995, he ran for the city of Seoul's mayoral election, but lost to former prime minister Chung Won-sik during the primary of the Democratic Liberal Party.In 1996, Lee was reelected as a member of the Korean National Assembly, representing Jongno District, Seoul. One of his opponents was future president Roh Moo-hyun, who ranked third place.
In 1999, Lee was a visiting scholar at the George Washington University, in Washington, DC.
Into his second-term, his former secretary Kim Yoo-chan disclosed that Lee had spent excessively in his election campaign, often at the expense of taxpayers outside of his district. After receiving US$18,000 from Lee, Kim wrote a letter reversing his disclosure and fled to Tajikistan. Lee resigned in 1998 before being fined US$6.5 million for breaking election law and forcing Kim to flee. In the by-election held after his resignation, Roh Moo-hyun was elected as his successor.
Mayor of Seoul
In 2002, Lee ran for mayor of Seoul and won. As mayor some of Lee's projects included the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream, the creation of Seoul Forest, the opening of Seoul Forest Park, the construction of a grassy field in front of Seoul City Hall, and the addition of rapid transit buses to the city's transportation system. His administration transformed the area around Seoul City Hall from a concrete traffic circle to a public lawn for gatherings.The Live Music Camp incident occurred in 2005, during his reign. Lee suggested that Hongdae concerts be regulated by authorities, which prompted political rivals to compare Lee to former dictator Park Chung Hee. Minister of Culture Yu In-chon convinced him not to do so. Following discussions with indie bands, Lee's administration reconciled with the artists and simultaneously pledged support for the indie music scene, aiming to foster a more vibrant cultural environment in Seoul.
During his mayoral tenure, he generally received positive evaluations, and even after a long period, he is still regarded as one of the greatest mayors in Seoul's history.
2007 presidential election
On 10 May 2007, Lee officially declared his intention to seek the nomination of the Grand National Party as its presidential candidate. On 20 August 2007, he defeated Park Geun-hye in the GNP's primary to become the party's nominee for the 2007 presidential election. During the primary, Lee was accused of profiting from illegal speculation on land owned in Dogok-dong, an expensive neighborhood in Seoul. However, in August 2007, the prosecutors said in the interim announcement, "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." On 28 September 2007, the prosecutory authority officially dropped the suspicion that the Dogok land was under a borrowed name, announcing, "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." In December 2007, a few days before the presidential election, Lee announced that he would donate all of his assets to society.Lee's stated goals were expressed in the "747 Plan" and included: 7% annual growth in gross domestic product, US$40,000 per capita, and transforming Korea into the world's seventh largest economy. An important part of his platform was the Grand Korean Waterway project from Busan to Seoul, which he believed would lead to an economic revival. His political opponents criticized the project, saying it was unrealistic and too costly to be realized. Others were concerned about possible negative environmental impact.
Signaling a departure from his previous views on North Korea, Lee announced a plan to "engage" North Korea through investment. He 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, and called for the formation of an aid office in North Korea as a way of decoupling humanitarian aid from nuclear talks.
His foreign policy initiative was called MB Doctrine, which advocates "engaging" North Korea and strengthening the US-Korean alliance.