Lee Myung-bak Quotes

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About Lee Myung-bak

Myung-bak Lee (born 19 December 1941) was the South Korean president from 2008 to 2013.

Born: December 19th, 1941

Categories: South Koreans

Quotes: 18 sourced quotes total (includes 14 about)

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On this significant occasion, all Koreans pay tribute to the heroes fallen in defense of freedom and democracy. I firmly believe that future generations in both countries will further advance the strong Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance into one befitting the spirit of the new age.
Sixty years ago, at dawn on June 25, the Korean War broke out when Communist North Korea invaded the Republic of Korea. In response, 16 member countries of the United Nations, including the United States, joined with the Republic of Korea to defend freedom. Over the next three years of fighting, about 37,000 Americans lost their lives. They fought for the freedom of Koreans they did not even know, and thanks to their sacrifices, the peace and democracy of the republic were protected.
Tough-minded, realistic, and very pro-American.
Lee Myung-bak is in many ways similar to the controversial former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
Lee Myung Bak was a lot better than most Koreans give him credit for and is probably Korea’s best president in its democratic history.
Lee gave the Somali pirates the defeat they deserve, demonstrating, to everyone’s great surprise I think, that Korea can in fact project power. Nice.
Driven to greatness by a conviction to liberty, commerce, and the belief that at the root of every success lies extreme perseverance and uncompromising principles.
Despite the Great Recession, which occurred on Lee's watch through no fault of his own, unemployment stayed below four percent for his entire tenure and GDP never contracted. Wow. Obama would have sailed into reelection with that record; that is simply astonishing.
No one would ever accuse Lee Myung-bak of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Every stage of Lee's life has been characterized by determination and sheer effort. Nothing was ever given to him, nor did he take anything for granted. Yet with a combination of drive and vision, Lee, called by some a 'am nof legend', was able to transcend the poverty of his youth to become a leading figure.
The Republic of Korea has emerged as an important partner of the United States in many parts of the world. Also, in the course of investigating and responding to the North's March sinking of our naval vessel the Cheonan, Seoul and Washington have closely coordinated efforts and expertise. In all these endeavors, we are not losing sight of the necessity of eventually turning the Korean Peninsula into a cradle of regional and world peace.
He steered Korea through the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. No other Korean president faced anything like that, and his management is a huge success for which no one here gives him any credit. I find that just astonishingly, and cheap. So many countries went through huge turmoil, and the S.K. left fixated instead on the usual cronyism that plagues all Korean presidents, or spread wild conspiracy theories about the Cheonan sinking. I find that just awful.
Lee ended South Korea's role as the 'sucker' with N.K. while prudently managing crises like Yeonpyeong. In 1997, genuine rapprochement with N.K. was untested; Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy détente was worth a try. But by the mid-2000s, it was also clear that it had failed. The Sunshine Policy was evolving into permanent appeasement and, paradoxically, a lifeline for a brutal regime that regularly threatened and bullied S.K. Lee was right to pull the plug without concrete change Kim Jong-il was obviously unwilling to make. Inevitably, N.K. hit back, and Lee managed the fallout well.
Lee also contained Korea's debt and deficit during the Great Recession, an amazing achievement yet again, given the budget-busting we see in the E.U., U.S., and Japan. During Lee's presidency, the budget ran a deficit only once, in 2009, and debt as a percent of GDP rose just 2.5%. And somehow Korea's aggregate tax take is just 23% of GDP while nonetheless providing universal healthcare and expanding free school lunches for children, a big issue here in the last year or so. Wow. Who else in the G-20 or OECD can chalk up post-Great Recession numbers like that?
Born poor in the wake of the Korean war, Lee Myung-Bak was destined for a life of poverty. But through intelligence and self-determination, he excelled in school, putting himself through college, hauling garbage six times a day to pay for tuition. He then took a low-level job at Hyundai, an organization of about ninety people at the time. Through a relentless work ethic and inability to compromise his beliefs, he rose to the role of CEO and found himself on a mission not just to expand the Hyundai Corporation, but to grow South Korea from a nation of poverty to a G20 economy.
Lee reaffirmed the critical American alliance. Much of Korea's latent anti-Americanism comes, understandably, from its very unequal, almost clientelistic, relationship with the United States. Korea is very dependent on the U.S., both for security and economic growth. For proud, nationalist Koreans, this is a bitter pill, and it leads to strange outbursts like the beef protests that were more about Korean pride against American domination than beef. But it is undeniably true that the U.S.-Korea alliance hugely benefits Korea while providing no obvious gain for the U.S. Were N.K. to absorb S.K., the U.S. would scarcely be affected, as the Cold War is now over.
On the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, I remain grateful to America for having participated in the war. At that time, the Republic of Korea was one of the most impoverished countries, with an annual per capita income of less than $40. In 2009, my country became a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Development Assistance Committee, the first aid recipient to become a donor and in only one generation. The Republic of Korea is engaged in peacekeeping missions in 14 countries to promote global peace. It will host the G-20 summit in November, and in 2012 the second nuclear security summit.
In short, managing N.K., without simply buying it off as the previous two presidents did, is extraordinarily hard, and Lee did a really good job given the weak hand he has to play. By weak, I mean things like the extraordinary concentration and vulnerability of S.K.'s population to N.K. strikes; the bizarre and genuinely disturbing sympathy of the S.K. left for N.K.; the growing belligerence of the S.K. right regarding N.K., if another Yeonpyeong happens, a counterstrike is likely, and the awkward but necessary role of U.S. forces in Korea in all this. Managing this tangle is very difficult, yet of existential importance to S.K. I can't see how any other Korean leader could have down substantially better, and worse could easily have occurred.
Recognizing that U.S. security interests here are waning, but great value of the alliance to Korea, Lee swallowed his pride and went to the Americans as his predecessors would not. The Korean outrage over the golf-cart 'incident' shows just how touchy this can be for Korea's sensitive to the obvious inequality of the U.S.-Korean relationship. But Lee, unlike so many S. Koreans, realizes that the alternative to the U.S. tie is not full-throated Korean autonomy against the world, but isolation in a very tough neighborhood where S. Korea is both small and vulnerable. Trying to hold the Americans here as long as possible is very wise, and Lee deserves great praise for grasping that uncomfortable truth over politically easier nationalist posturing of his predecessors. Like the N.K. issue above, this is existentially important to S.K., and Lee made the right choice. That's historic.

End Lee Myung-bak Quotes