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Analysis: Seoul's Conservative Swing

Council on Foreign Relations

Updated: April 9, 2008
Author: Jayshree Bajoria

Exit polls show South Korean President Lee Myung Bak’s conservative party winning a parliamentary majority (IHT) in elections Wednesday, overturning nearly a decade of rule by the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP). South Korea’s Yonhap news service reports that the vote will help Lee, who won the presidency in December 2007, promising to take a tough line with Pyongyang, economic reforms, and better ties with the United States.

Lee’s first months in office have not gone smoothly. Among the problems: infighting in his party, greater cross-border tensions with the North, allegations of corruption against his cabinet appointees, and stiff opposition to many of his policy proposals. The Economist notes that this has made for a poor start to his five-year term. The former mayor of Seoul and Hyundai’s top executive, Lee won the elections despite allegations of involvement in a corruption scandal. Last month, three of his cabinet appointees were forced to resign (NYT) amid suspicions that they received bribes from Samsung. One of Lee’s major plans, a nationwide canal project linking rivers in the North and South, has run into opposition from environmentalists.

Lee’s loudest criticism has come from Pyongyang. North Korean state-run media lashed out at him at the end of March, threatening to reduce South Korea to a “sea of ashes” (VOA). Earlier this month, the North Korean regime threatened to cut off all dialogue (BBC) with the South, expelled South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex, test-fired missiles, and claimed that Seoul was breaching the disputed sea border. Experts say this is no surprise given Lee’s hard-line policy on linking economic aid to Pyongyang’s progress in denuclearization efforts.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 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.