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Oberdorfer: S. Korean President-Elect to Focus on Economy, Trust with North

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Don Oberdorfer, Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

December 20, 2007

Don Oberdorfer, a leading expert on North and South Korea, says the president-elect of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, is likely to focus on tackling economic problems that dominated voters’ concerns. He described Lee as “business-like and straightforward,” bringing to bear his experience as former mayor of Seoul and as a high-powered executive with Hyundai, South Korea’s leading conglomerate. On North Korea, Oberdorfer says, Lee wants to “create a greater sense of trust between North and South Korea, which he says is lacking, and it certainly is.”

In South Korea, the presidential election has ended with Lee Myung-bak, the former mayor of Seoul, winning handily. Does this foretell a major change in South Korea?

Yes, of course, when you have a major shift of this sort. He was not running against the incumbent, Roh Moo-hyun, who by law could not stand for re-election, but against the incumbent party, the Centrist Reformists Democratic Party. The progressives have been in office now for about ten years. The fact that Lee, who is more conservative, from the opposition Grand National Party, has won the election, I don’t think indicates a drastic or dramatic change in South Korea’s international stance, toward North Korea, for example. That wasn’t much of an issue in the campaign. But when you have a change like this, lots of things change in terms of foreign policy, and there will be shifts that are discernable, even though in themselves they may not indicate any kind of radical change.

Have you ever met the new president?

I met Lee Myung-bak twice this year for fairly extensive conversations—in February and again in September. He seemed to be quite comfortable—he was much more confident, of course, in September than he had been in February. He is business-like and straightforward.

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Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.