The Return of Korea's Old Guard

As reform sputters, conservative icon Lee Myung Bak is ready to make a comeback in South Korea's Dec. 19 presidential election

by Moon Ihlwan

Lee Myung Bak appears to be South Korea's President-in-waiting.

At a final-day campaign rally in Seoul before the Dec. 19 Korean presidential election, conservative front-runner Lee Myung Bak seems to be readying his victory speech. Campaign cheerleaders dressed in blue jumpers and sweaters with the number 747 in yellow pump up the crowd with chants and dances. The 747 number has become a symbol for Lee's campaign, representing his pledge to deliver 7% economic growth per year, to achieve annual per capita income of $40,000, and to make Korea the seventh-largest economy in the world. (Currently, growth is about 5%, per capita income is $20,000, and Korea is the world's 13th-largest economy.)

"What Korea needs is a President who implements promises," says Lee, who turns 66 on Election Day. Calling himself "the economy President," the former chief of one of Korea's most powerful business groups flashes a victory sign to the cheering crowd. "I'll rejuvenate the economy by all means possible," he says.

It's a far cry from South Korea's previous recent presidential election. Five years ago, waves of young voters in their 20s and 30s gave liberal candidate Roh Moo Hyun an amazing come-from-behind victory. Many exuberant young voters called the outcome the repudiation of the old order and old system, in which pro-business politicians had worked with Korea's largest conglomerates to promote economic growth at the expense of most everything else, including consumers, workers, and human rights.

Capitalizing on Star CEO Status

Five years later, though, that old order is starting to appear vindicated and its hero is staged to make a big comeback. A business icon of Korea's growth-at-all-costs era in the 1970s and '80s, Lee appears to be the nation's President-in-waiting. Lee, from the conservative opposition Grand National Party, has consolidated his lead by highlighting the differences between him and the unpopular Roh and making the economy the central issue of this year's ballot.

He's capitalized on the perception that Roh has not been properly addressing the dangers of Korea being squeezed between the up-and-coming giant of China and the high-tech power of Japan. Lee has highlighted his experience as a 16-year star CEO at Hyundai Group (HYEHF), an industrial power that has long epitomized Korea's breakneck industrialization. He's also promoted his four-year stint as Seoul mayor, from 2002 to 2006, when he earned his "Bulldozer" nickname for his hard-charging style.

On foreign policy, Lee's priority is to mend ties with the U.S. that sometimes caused strain under Roh. And on North Korea, a Lee administration would make a thorough review of Roh's policy, which offered help without requiring reform in the communist country.

Public's Focus on Bread-and-Butter Issues

Political analysts say the electorate has been disillusioned with the left-leaning Roh's divisive disputes with his political rivals over issues such as how to coax North Korea into breaking out of its self-imposed isolation. Roh has also sparred with former allies over whether to rewrite South Korea's constitution to replace the single five-year presidential term with an American-style, four-year renewable one.

Many middle-class Koreans, however, would prefer their leaders to concentrate on bread-and-butter concerns. "With some half of university graduates unable to get jobs they think are decent, young voters want to focus more on such issues as how to improve their living standards," says Hahm Sung Deuk, a political science professor at Korea University in Seoul.

Although the benchmark index on the Seoul bourse has tripled during Roh's presidency and exports have doubled, the middle class isn't feeling so prosperous. The soaring cost of owning a home and educating children has made the vast majority of Koreans feel that they've missed out on the economic advances. (Home prices in Seoul have jumped by an average of 53% during Roh's term, and in prime areas prices have tripled or even quadrupled. At the same time, education costs have doubled.) "Our expectations for a new, better system have been completely shattered in the past five years," says Choi Hee, a 30-year-old office worker in Seoul. "I don't think Lee Myung Bak is completely free of dubious practices, but many of my friends now want a tested leader capable of handling practical issues."