President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother, Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, is under attack not only from the ruling and the opposition parties but also because he has become a liability to the President.
Three young lawmakers of the governing Grand National Party criticized the elder Lee for meddling in state affairs beyond his legal boundaries. They claim he was behind the recent illegal surveillance and spying on 2,000 key figures. The three labeled him as a “Big Brother,” a synonym for the abuse of government power, particularly regarding civil liberties. They still perceive him as extensively involved in state affairs, the job his younger brother President Lee must do. Few questioned that the elder Lee has been deeply involved in appointments at key public posts. His aide Park Young-june has been at the center of controversy for going above his assigned duty; he still keeps a public post as a vice minister at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
The young GNP lawmakers are allegedly trying to make the senior Lee a scapegoat in a preemptive move to gain the upper hand ahead of two crucial elections in 2012. They are worried about their chances for re-election in 2012, the last year of President Lee’s five-year presidency. To survive in the next election, they want to clean house in the governing party. They also want to preclude the possibility of Lee Sang-deuk having a role in picking the GNP’s next presidential candidate.
The internal power struggle is frowned upon among the people. The divisive factional feuding will unlikely subside until the elder Lee distances himself from state affairs.
After public opinion turned negative, the elder Lee declared he would devote himself only to strengthening energy diplomacy. He played a key role in Korea’s signing of a memorandum of understanding with Bolivia to secure the world’s largest lithium reserves. What was not announced in the deal is that it may take at least five years to develop the technology to extract the lithium from the salt flats for commercialization. It was not a contract, just a memorandum of understanding.
The senior Lee should learn lessons from Korean politics. In the waning years of the Joseon Dynasty, the Daewon-gun (1821-1898), literally the prince of the great court, accelerated the demise of the 500-year dynasty as he wielded royal power as regent during the younger years of King Gojong in the 1860s.
Family members of the heads of state faced tragic ends without exception. Authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan’s younger brother Chun Kyung-hwan, then head of the New Community Movement Headquarters, was convicted for influence-peddling and bribe-taking upon the end of his elder brother’s seven-year presidency in 1987.
The next President Roh Tae-woo’s nephew Park Chul-un encountered a similar fate. President Kim Young-sam had to make a series of apologies for his second son’s abuse of power. Hyun-chul was jailed during his father’s presidency in 1997. Kim Dae-jung’s sons were also no exception. Family members of the head of state should learn their lesson from history.