elect Pragmatism Ends 10 Years of Liberal Rule
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
The majority of Korean voters selected ``pragmatism'' in the 2007 presidential election as opposed to the 1997 and 2002 elections when they chose ``democratization.''
President-elect Lee Myung-bak stressed practicality in administrative affairs during his campaign.
Lee, 66, has continued to say that politicians should not get involved in ideological debate concerning the progressive versus conservative dichotomy.
``Leaders should put pragmatism first in major policy areas such as diplomacy and the economy,'' he said.
A former business executive, Lee promises his ``pragmatic government'' will make economic growth its top priority.
He said the needy should of course be offered support, but it is better to give them opportunities to stand on their own after the nation's economy becomes fit.
Under the slogan: ``The president who will put economic policies into practice,'' Lee was successful in attracting a great number of low and mid-income voters, who were frustrated by the Roh Moo-hyun administration's policy failures.
Some polls show that many of the people who voted for Roh in 2002 regretted their choice amid high real estate prices, a high jobless rate, and widened income disparity.
Capability or Morality
In addition, the voters put priority on the ``capability'' rather than the ``morality'' of candidates. Major foreign newspapers expressed interest about the situation in which the frontrunner Lee became dogged with suspicions about his ethics.
But the big issue of Lee's alleged involvement in a financial scam did not hamper the former Seoul mayor in winning the race.
Criticizing the failures of President Roh, Lee said low-income families have been the hardest hit as a result of the decade-long economic slowdown.
The number of middle class families accounted for 54.6 percent of total households last year, compared with 68.7 percent in 1996.
He said the incumbent administration's populist economic policy and other policy failures were behind the decline of middle class families.
He said the Roh government strove to craft social services to help these families by levying heavy taxes on the high-income families and introducing a variety of regulations on business activities.
Ahead of Lee's scheduled inauguration on Feb. 25, the issue is how the President-elect will stand up to the investigation by an independent prosecutor on his alleged involvement in stock price manipulations conducted by Lee's former business partner Kim Kyung-joon in 2001.
A special prosecutor will be named late this month and he will be given 40 days to look into the allegations again.
This case will be the first of its kind in the nation's history. If he is cleared of the suspicions, he will take the oath as the next President.
If he is found guilty, he may lose his President-elect status, forcing the country to hold another presidential election.