#World news RSS feed South Korea RSS feed North Korea RSS feed Asia Pacific RSS feed Comment is free RSS feed Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off * Jump to content [s] * Jump to comments [c] * Jump to site navigation [0] * Jump to search [4] * Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK * US Sign in Mobile About us * About us * Contact us * Press office * Guardian Print Centre * Guardian readers' editor * Observer readers' editor * Terms of service * Privacy policy * Advertising guide * Digital archive * Digital edition * Guardian Weekly * Buy Guardian and Observer photos * Subscribe Today's paper * The Guardian * Comment and debate * Editorials, letters and corrections * Obituaries * Other lives * Sport * Review * Travel * Family * Money * Work * Weekend * The Guide * Subscribe Subscribe * Subscribe to the Guardian * iPhone app * iPad edition * Kindle * Extra * Guardian Weekly * Digital edition * All our services The Guardian home ____________________ [Comment is free] Search * News * Sport * Comment * Culture * Business * Money * Life & style * Travel * Environment * TV * Data * Video * Mobile * Offers * Jobs * Comment is free Korea Clouds over Seoul * + Tweet this + IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=17841205555826 7&href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/dec/20/lea dersandreply.mainsection1&send=false&layout=button_count&width =140&show_faces=false&action=recommend&colorscheme=light&font= arial&height=21 + [icon_reddit.gif] reddit this * Comments (…) * Leader * The Guardian, Thursday 20 December 2007 * Article history About this article Close Leader: Clouds over Seoul This article appeared on p34 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Thursday 20 December 2007. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 15.16 GMT on Thursday 20 December 2007. It was last modified at 15.16 GMT on Saturday 9 February 2008. It was first published at 08.59 GMT on Thursday 20 December 2007. The election last night of Lee Myung-bak, a staunch conservative, as president of South Korea, is - at face value - a paradox. Just as a decade of engagement by two liberal presidents bears fruit, with the best hopes yet for a permanent peace between the two halves of the peninsula, South Korea has elected a man who has vowed to get tough with the North. No more mister nice guy, the voter is saying. We will give you oil, rice and medicine, but we want something in return. Clouds are forming in South Korea's sunshine policy. Seoul's disillusion with liberalism is as much a delayed political reaction to the Asian financial crisis a decade ago, than it is to the frozen conflict with Pyongyang. With China on one side and Japan on the other, South Korea has grown restless despite an annual growth rate of 4.4% that Europeans would happily settle for. President-elect Lee Myung-bak has an ambitious policy to almost double growth in 10 years. He aims for 7% growth, and $40,000 per capita incomes. Success would make South Korea the world's 7th largest economy. He calls it his 747 policy. Lee Myung-bak is a product of the Korean dream. He was so poor as a postwar immigrant from Osaka that he could not afford money for his lunchbox at school. He had to work by day, and study by night but became Hyundai's youngest CEO. Under him, Hyundai motorways were hewn through the mountains. A Presbyterian, he is now offering the same jackpot dream to his fellow Koreans. It is time, he tells them, to rise up economically. But there will be no honeymoon for Mr Lee. The construction engineer arrives in power with a financial scandal pre-assembled. A seven-year-old video released in the final week of his campaign shows him admitting founding a company at the centre of a fraud investigation, with which he has subsequently denied involvement. A prosecutor has until February 25, the date of his inauguration, to complete his inquiry. If found at fault, Mr Lee has said he would step aside. Once in power, the style and tone of South Korea will change, but the substance of engagement with the North will change subtly. No one wants a return to belligerence, but nor do they seek a sudden collapse of the regime in the North which would be calamitous for the South. The sole option is to continue giving aid, creating jobs and increasing contacts, in the hope that a small opening is chiselled in the granite-hard surface of the regime. The two sides used to pump propaganda at each other through giant loudspeakers. Now Seoul sends truck loads of DVD recordings of soap operas over the border. They are more effective. * Print this Printable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * larger | smaller Email Close Recipient's email address ____________________ Your first name ____________________ Your surname ____________________ Add a note (optional) _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/xxtnk * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk * If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content World news * South Korea · * North Korea · * Asia Pacific More from Comment is free on World news * South Korea · * North Korea · * Asia Pacific * Graphic * Map of North and South Korea * Useful links * Korea Herald (South) * North Korean Central News Agency * World Food Programme * History of the Korean war - tcsaz.com * CIA factbook: North Korea * CIA factbook: South Korea Related * 12 Dec 2007 Two Koreas restore rail link 57 years on * 11 Dec 2007 Train link reconnects two Koreas * 13 Jun 2000 Historic North-South Korean summit raises peace hopes * 13 Jun 2000 North and South Korean leaders meet * Print this Printable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * Article history Email Close Recipient's email address ____________________ Your first name ____________________ Your surname ____________________ Add a note (optional) _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/xxtnk * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk * If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content About this article Close Leader: Clouds over Seoul This article appeared on p34 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Thursday 20 December 2007. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 15.16 GMT on Thursday 20 December 2007. It was last modified at 15.16 GMT on Saturday 9 February 2008. It was first published at 08.59 GMT on Thursday 20 December 2007. Comments 1 comment, displaying oldest first Sort comments by [Oldest] Submit * This symbol indicates that that person is The Guardian's staff Staff * This symbol indicates that that person is a contributor Contributor * Teacup 20 December 2007 10:22AM I hope that he will not turn out to be the Tony Blair of Korea, great for the economy, but nowhere near as effective in dealing with unfriendly regimes. Good luck, both Koreas. * + Recommend (0) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link Comments on this page are now closed. On Comment is free * Most viewed * Zeitgeist * Latest Last 24 hours 1. [milibands-003.jpg] 1. Roy Hattersley: Why Labour chose Ed not David Miliband 2. 2. Act on Acta now if you care about democracy and free speech | David Meyer 3. 3. 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