Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

NEWSMAKER-"Bulldozer" takes charge in South Korea
25 Feb 2008 01:57:53 GMT
 Source: Reuters
SEOUL, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Lee Myung-bak has been labelled a construction boss gone green, a hero of South Korea's salarymen for his rags-to-riches rise. His foes call him a corrupt tycoon.

On Monday, he takes office as South Korea's president.

Korean TV viewers know Lee's life story from two hit dramas highlighting the business legends who rebuilt the economy out of the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee, 66, the first businessman-turned-politician to win the South Korean presidency, was born in poverty. He picked garbage off the streets of Seoul to help pay his way through university.

The man who served a brief stint in prison for opposing the country's then military rulers joined Hyundai Engineering and Construction when it was just an upstart builder scrambling for work.

He earned his bosses' respect by fighting off bandits at a Hyundai construction site in Malaysia.

By the age of 36 he was its chief executive, helping turning it into one of the country's biggest construction companies. He helped lay the asphalt and erect skyscrapers as South Korea surged to become one of Asia's economic tigers.

When he became mayor of Seoul many years later, he tore down some of those structures, calling them mistakes.

With much fanfare, the man nicknamed "the bulldozer" ordered the destruction of an elevated highway running though the heart of Seoul. He had his engineers uncover a stream buried underneath and turn it into a water park.

The Cheonggye stream park has been visited by more than the country's entire population of 49 million people since it was opened two years ago.

He won over many of the capital's residents with this project, by throwing open downtown's City Hall plaza for free concerts and skating in winter, and by knocking time off their commutes by enforcing new bus lanes.

A father-of-four, Lee jokes about his long arms and narrow eyes and is quick with a smile. He speaks with a confident tone that some in the country see as arrogant.

Lee has made a lot of money along the way. The new president denies any wrongdoing, but his opponents have charged him with hiding assets and operating shady businesses.

Last week, a special investigation team confirmed what prosecutors had already ruled -- that Lee had not been involved in share price manipulation.

A stickler for detail, Lee married his wife on his birthday, saying that way he would never forget his anniversary.

As it turned out, it was also the day he was elected president -- Dec. 19. (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Sanjeev Miglani)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  Dorcas Aid International Assists Cold Wave Victims In China
Dorcas Aid - Netherlands

•  U.S. Congress Must Move Quickly on AIDS Funding Bill
WV - USA

•  UMCOR Hotline for February 19, 2008
UMCOR - USA

•  China: Multi-million dollar China response focuses on power
World Vision - Asia Pacific

•  Charity Navigator Awards ADRA Rare Third Straight Four-Star Rating
ADRA - International

MORE >>

Latest news

•  NEWSMAKER-"Bulldozer" takes charge in South Korea

•  Protesters say they have bugged Japanese whalers

•  Clinton, Obama toughen their attacks

•  Woman in China's Guangdong has suspected bird flu

•  China jails 17 for deadly coal mine blast

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Related articles

Breaking stories
NEWSMAKER-"Bulldozer" takes charge in South Korea (1 minute ago)

Protesters say they have bugged Japanese whalers (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
Climate change and conflicts: Is there a link at all? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
Dorcas Aid International Assists Cold Wave Victims In China (1 minute ago)

Blogs
VIEWPOINT: West's 'dirty work' fuels China's resource spree (1 minute ago)

Maps
MAP: Global flood locations week ending Feb 14,2008 (1 minute ago)


Country information

Facts & figures
Korea (South) Japan United States of America North Korea China

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-24T094043Z_01_PEK10_RTRIDSP_2_OLYMPICS-POLLUTION_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK10.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-24T050040Z_01_POC13_RTRIDSP_2_KOREA-NORTH_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/POC13.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-22T104912Z_01_PEK17_RTRIDSP_2_OLYMPICS-POLLUTION_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK17.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-22T103713Z_01_PEK09_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK09.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-22T073228Z_01_PEK07_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK07.htm

Models of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games mascots are seen as smoke billows from a power plant in the back in Taiyuan, Shanxi province February 23, 2008. China has ordered Beijing ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Mon Feb 25 01:55:49 2008