A boy was born in Osaka, Japan on December 19th, 1941. Although he would be about to give up entering high school for financial reasons, he graduated with top honors after three years. He then entered the Department of Business Administration, Korea University. After graduating from university, he had difficulty getting a job because of his criminal record resulting from a student movement. However, he would soon join Hyundai Construction. Only twelve years after he joined, he became the president of Hyundai construction at the age of thirty-five. In 1988, he became a CEO. He got into politics as the 14th member of National Assembly Congress in 1992. In 2002 he was elected the 32nd mayor of Seoul and then he was elected the president of Korea with the slogan: “Reviving the economy.” He is President Lee Myung-bak who is well known to everyone. Now it is May 2010 and two years have passed since President Lee Myung-bak’s inauguration. In his term, three years are still left. Is he qualified to be the Korean president?

● The First Two-year Inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak’s term

 
     The approval rating of President Lee’s administration was 43.4% on April 19, 2010. This number is lower than the disapproval rating (49.1%) by 5.7%. The periods that the approval rating was higher than the disapproval rating was only two months, in March and April of 2008. On April 18, 2008 as soon as the news about reaching a settlement in the free trade negotiation with the U.S. over beef came out in the approval rating of President Lee started to plunge rapidly. On June 11, this caused the approval rating to decline to 15.2% and various incidents had an approval rating of about 30%. After this situation some changes in the approval rating occurred in the second half of the 2009 when President Lee absorbed the ‘friendly ordinary person practical middle line.’ However, his recent approval rating is hovering in the amid mid 40% range. Therefore President Lee might greet the second anniversary of his inauguration on a relatively not that bad. However, nobody knows how the rest three years will be in the situation or if the disapproval rating will remain higher than the approval rating.

 

 

● President Lee Myung-bak’s public commitment to the Economy

 → public commitment 747
   

 
In December 2007, President Lee insisted that “Reviving the economy” is his slogan in his presidential election, and he promised many public commitments based on the economy. Among these, the most famous public commitment was the public commitment to 747. The 747 public commitment promised 7% economic growth, $40,000 household income and to be the seventh economic power in the world. As a presidential candidate, President Lee promised that he would achieve 7% annual growth. However, this 7% economic growth public commitment raised controversy from the beginning. There were no experts who believed the thirteenth largest GDP country could achieve 7% economic growth. It is very difficult to maintain that rate of growth at a developed economic stage. Also there are no advanced countries that went beyond an average of 4% economic growth in the last thirty years. Finally, this public commitment was adjusted to 6% economic growth as the presidential transition committee started to work. As soon as MB was inaugurated as President, the government admitted that 6% economic growth would also be difficult. The economic performance over the last two years has been very poor. Economic growth has averaged 1.2%(2.2% of 2008 and 0.2% of 2009). At the end of 2009, the per capita national income was about $17,000 and it has retreated to the same level as 2005. The GDP of Korea has also fallen to fifteenth in the world. As a result, one of President Lee’s main public commitment has failed thus far.

→ Creating 3 Million Jobs
     Another public commitment that President Lee promised was to create 3 million jobs. However, President Lee’s job report card is terrible. In the last two years, occupations (the number of employees) have decreased by 99,000 and this drop is the largest since 1998. Last year’s unemployment rate stabilized, but employment plunged. After the financial crisis, employment that generally had been maintained at 60% dropped to 59.8% in 2007 and to 58.6% last year. An employment rate drop of 1% means vacant occupations decreased by approximately 400,000.
    The MB government economic team tried to reduce the public effect. The response to the problem was poor and focused on patching it up. As the number of official unemployed people approached a million, the government immediately started the ‘Hope for work project.’ However, this project was suspended and reduced.
    The background of the Hope for work project’s suspension and reduction is the pressure of public expenditure. For two years the ‘Tax reduction of the rich’ that was essential to MB government’s economic policy made public expenditure reach the limit and it spread to the ‘Hope for work project.’ This had a direct effect on the job market. Actually ‘Tax reduction for the rich’ and ‘Corporate tax reduction for major companies’ is a key point in the MB government’s economic policy. MB’s economics predicts that if tax is reduced, consumption will increase and if investment in equipment increases, the economy will grow and jobs will be added. However, MB’s economics caused growth without employment. Eventually MB’s government policies make things worse.

 

 

→ The Four River Project
    The ‘Four river project’ aims to improve the functions of rivers, stabilize the supply of clean water,
 
make water management easy, create jobs and invigorate the economy which is being pushed by the Korean government.
    However this project’s root goes way back to the name “Grand Korean Waterway.” The Grand Korean Waterway is the ‘Korean version of the New Deal’ suggested by President Lee when he was the member of the National Assembly in the 1990s. The Grand Korean Waterway was a large scale territory renovation project that was to construct a 3,100km canal across the Korean peninsula. President Lee asserted the construction of the Grand Canal and he said it would bring many advantages including an improved distribution system, an improvement of the water environment and a balanced development of national land. However, the Grand Canal is economically infeasible and has dangerous consequences to the environment and destruction of cultural assets. Therefore the necessity of the Grand Canal construction couldn’t be proven and it caused serious problems. Meanwhile, the government started the ‘Four river project’ to prepare for floods, drought’s harm and to improve the river’s environment. However, the opposition parties and environment groups argued that the ‘Four river project’ was just laying the groundwork for the Grand Korean Waterway and a lot of doubts were raised. According to an opinion poll carried out by MBC, opposition to the ‘Four river project’, 66.6% was much higher than agreement, 27.1%. The rate of people who consider the ‘Four river project’ the same as the Grand Korean was 54.7%. In spite of the nation’s opposition, the MB government is starting the Grand Korean Waterway and decorating with the name ‘Four river project.’ This is bulldozer politics without public agreement and a verification procedure.

● MB, The Story since the Inauguration
     Last two-years have been short in a way and long in another way. There are so many incidents during the MB government’s term. Not long after his inauguration, the U.S. beef crisis, the Grand Korean Waterway, media bills, the Yongsan tragedy and Sejong City problems occurred rapid in succession.

→ The U.S. Beef crisis
    

 
 It is the President Lee who unlatched the gate of import prohibition because of fears of mad cow disease after four years and five months of resistance dating back to 2003. Before unlatching the gate, when a small jackstraw was found in lean meat, the government would return it to America. However, the government changed their policy and started to import the whole bone. It was a dogmatic and unilateral decision. They did not seem to try to explain why this happened against our worries and concerns. As a nation we were afraid of that and felt that our lives were threatened, so people started carrying brightly burning candles. However, President Lee was busy trying to extinguish the candles. No one could avoid police investigation from middle and high school students to mother pushing a baby-stroller.

→ The Yongsan Tragedy
    While the police force suppressed the homeless who were going to a sit-in demonstration in a five-story building scheduled to be torn down, 6 people died and 24 people got hurt on Han-gang second street, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on January 20, 2009. The police force's suppression killed a lot of people. However, the police force argued that it was a just exercise of power. The dead homeless people were stolen from their living shelter and expelled by government. They were just struggling to survive.
    The development of the nation rather drove them over the edge. After this tragedy, the MB government killed them twice and three times over. The government hurried to conceal the truth and to sweep it under the rug. Korea's retreat from democracy and human rights is progressing at a rapid pace.

● Two years have passed, three years remain
    For two years, the evaluation of the MB government has generally been harsh, but cool-headed. Wi

 
th closed eyes and ears, the MB government has tried to push their demands on the nation by force. They do not listen to the nation's voice and this causes a lack of communication. Their dogmatic and one-sided treatment causes nation's dissatisfaction and finally a nation can't trust them at all. If the retreat of democracy and human rights is justified and we can't find government for nation. The MB government should remember what they promised 3 years ago, and should open their eyes and ears to listen to various voices. I hope Korea will be happy for the rest of the period.

 

By Ahn Na-ri CP Reporter
ahn-nari@cnu.ac.kr

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