By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
A pair of black aviator sunglasses that President Lee Myung-bak sported on his campaign trail last year reminded people of revolutionary former president Park Chung-hee, who built the nation's unprecedented economic success from virtually nothing.
Six months into his five-year term, it's clear that the oversized shades is just one of many resemblances between the two.
From pledging economic growth targets, creating an inflationary watch list of daily essentials, championing an exports-oriented growth, concreting ties with conglomerates, to digging a massive canal for immediate job creation, the former Hyundai CEO is definitely sending people down memory lane.
``It's almost as if we're reliving the 70s and 80s all over again,'' says Park Hoo-gun, a political economics professor at Kyungnam University. ``The only and pivotal difference is that we're now in the 21st Century.''
He said that Lee's government is built on authoritarianism, which belongs to days before the country's pro-democratization period.
This isn't a surprising character for the man once known as ``The Bulldozer,'' who as leader helped the fledgling Hyundai Construction company transform into a global powerhouse.
But the hands-on president has been picked apart for intervening in too many things at once.
The government's frequent currency market intervention, excessive demands of conglomerates and the adoption of market protection measures, such as poison pills, have been controversial.
``Lee always promotes `pro-market,' but in reality is going in the opposite direction,'' said Shin Suk-hoon, a senior research fellow at the Korea Economic Research Institute. ``In some ways, he's getting forceful results.''
Job creation and corporate investment were the two biggest things the President wanted from corporations.
And Lee provided good padding to get the results he wanted. He pardoned convicted leaders of some of the country's top chaebol earlier this month to encourage job creation and capital spending.
The tycoons were quick to return the favor.
Despite the sagging economy and looming uncertainties, major employers like Samsung, LG, SK, Hyundai Motor and Hanwha this week released expanded hiring plans for the second half of this year.
Corporate capital spending also went up, according to the country's most influential business lobby.
The Federation of Korean Industries said 600 local enterprises collectively invested more than 45 trillion won, up nearly 17 percent from last year.
``Considering the current market situation, these figures are excellent,'' said Shin.
He explained that critics may think the results were a result of pressure and partial bribery, but that the leader has no choice but to do this now.
``President Lee is trying to set the stage for change because relations between the government and businesses were so rigid in the past,'' said Shin, ``but his indirect intervention is in no way similar to the former authoritarian regime.''
However, others say that there is a fine line between being a cheerleader and taking charge.
``Lee must know when to step aside and let the market work on its own,'' said Jung Joo-sung, an economics professor at Ewha Womans University.