It appears Lee Myung-bak won’t get 50% of the vote. He does have 48.61%, however, and with Chung Dong-young drawing only 26.21%, the 22.4% difference marks the largest landslide in a Korean presidential election.
Lee Hoi-chang did OK for himself with 15%.
Big post-election wrap up here at the blog later today.
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Well, that’s the end of that!
South Korea’s accomplishments in the last ten years:
* Built the KTX
* Co-hosted the 2002 World Cup
* Became “most wired nation”
* Survived ten years under Kim and Roh
In any other country, there’s a honeymoon period. What with the BBK investigation and lefty discontent, it looks like it’s going to be pretty hard slogging for Lee right out of the gate.
i’ve always enjoyed that “most wired nation” moniker because it seems a misnomer given that so many of the best services here are wireless. in any event, i think iceland has passed Korea in this category. even in governmetn docs now you can see “one of the” in front of “most”.
Some very interesting observations from several Japanese blogger, who are long time residents in South Korea, about the ten years reign of the progressive government.
1. One fact that they think is a great achievement under the progressive administration is that transparency has increased in all public sectors during their reign. In general, he sums up; South Korean society became apparently more “open” compared to 10years ago.
2. Although it is said that failure in economic policy was the reason why the progressive’s lost the election, many bloggers are saying that frankly speaking that they don’t think that the economic achievement was THAT bad during the last 10years. Korea overcame the INF crisis, became top class in IT, living standard increased constantly and finally became one of the richest nations in the world. Cultural presence has also increased in the world popular culture (or at least in Asia).It still maintains an annual 4% economic growth.
3. So, aside of diplomacy, the questions is whether the progressive governments were THAT BAD as it is described in Mass media (and blog sphere).
Well I understand that many non-Korean find the attitude and diplomacy of Roh administration very unpleasant, amateurish, and basically a joke.
But are all the economic problems (if they are some), all his faults?
Any thougts?
Any thoughts? Yeah — pretty much correct on all three, even if one wonders whether Korea’s economic growth during the last administration was because of government policy or despite it. But yes, despite some of the venom directed at the progressives, some very important and positive changes did take place during the last decade.
I’d just say that it wasn’t just non-Koreans, as evidenced by yesterday’s election results.
tomojiro, I respect you tremendously.
The Japanese blogger is basically right.
However, Lee Myung Bak will make Korea even better. He has to. Anyway,
The core to understanding this is simple.
Kim Dae Jung.
There is a sizable population in Korea, whose whole assessment of the last 10 years hinges basically on the hatred for this very person, Kim Dae Jung.
As I have been predicting for last two years, this is a new beginning. Commies are defeated. They lost power.
Tomorrow, you will see Koreans smiling to you more, greet you with “Hello” and “Hi”. Less of Korean nationalism bullshit.
Koreans will quickly align themselves with the US. No more anti-American bull.
As days go on, more and more Koreans will join pro-American, pro-business and pro-internationalization crowd.
And, in less than one year, you all will see different Korea. Koreans will become more like Singaporian or Dutch. Very friendly toward foreigners.
Soon, Korea will be very open and international country. Much more so than China or Japan. Even more so than Russia.
Korea may eventually become FarEastern Hub as some have envisioned.
The landslide win by Lee proved that Korean people were fed up by KimDaeJung-RhoMuhyen shit and wanted a change. A sweeping change. Especially from the present(past) administration’s pro-North attitude.
How can a president of a free country align himself with the Northern dictator of most terrible regime on earth? Studity to the max! People saw what Rho stood for. Stupid nationalism.
People vote for Lee, saying “it is economics, stupid”. Rho used to say to him the Korean unification is the most important goal. He even said it did not matter in what form (yes, Communist form, especially) the unification came.
Well, most Koreans differ. They do not like that kind of talk. South Koreans after ten years of Kim-Rho bullshit finally realized that economy, not Korean unification, is the most important goal.
People have become pragmatic.
“…South Koreans after ten years of Kim-Rho bullshit finally realized that economy, not Korean unification, is the most important goal…”
Really? Economics is very important, yes, but I think unification has and will always been the ultimate goal.
*be
Wow, baduk, you’re certainly forecasting a lot of sunshine in the social/political/economic climate. I’m not quite sure how this rapid transformation is going to take place, but no matter. Let’s get ready for the loving to begin!
#8
I think there are a lot more people who are finally looking at what such a unification would actually entail, and thinking it would be a monumentally bad idea. Give it another administration or two, and a unified Korea might be as likely as a unified Roman Empire.
I think it is hilarious that some of you think Lee Myung-bak isn’t full of nationalist bullshit. If you’d have watched his winning party last night, you’d have seen a giant flag being pulled across the ice rink in Seoul and some skaters on the other side waving Korean flags as they skated in circles.
It was super cheesy and reeked of nationalism. Perhaps you mean to say Lee Myung-bak isn’t full of anti-Americanism.
People waiving Korean flags? On a presidential election night? No way!
Flag-waving is patriotism, not nationalism. Big difference.
My question is: Will this child of the chaebol be a mercantilist? Being “pro-business” in this country will probably mean supporting the chaebol vs. the rest of the world, to the detriment of consumers, small business and most of us waygooks here. Anyway, I’m not about to join this circle jerk just yet.
The issue of the significance of flag-waving aside, there is little question that a huge element of LMB’s support comes from people who are narrow-minded nationalists and economic quasi-mercantilists of just the sort with whom Wedge is unwilling to play bukkake. Alhtough they are not outspokenly anti-American – because they understand, even if they don’t appreciate, where their guns and butter come from — they are generally only fair-weather friends of Uncle Sam, who for them is no more than the proprietor of the BIG PX. There are some notable exceptions in LMB’s inner circle, but I’m not betting that LMB is going to be the TR of Korea when it comes to taming Big Business or adopting a principled stance in foreign policy.
Baduk,
What a load of tripe. The Koreans in my mid-sized town are just as ignorant and xenophobic as they were when I went to bed last night. Doing my shopping today at the local Homever, I received the same amount of stares, comments and whispers as I do on any other day. How you and your ilk can continue to write such nonsense on this blog’s comments section is testament to the tolerance of Mr Koehler towards free speech, humour or both.
I’m wondering how much of a religious fruitcake he turns out to be — he’s made some ominous statements in the past. I hope we are not in for any “Jesus told me to build this canal, whatever the cost or environmental effects”. As always with politicians, we hope that he doesn’t turn out to take his “beliefs” very seriously…
Regarding the canal, it’s become the subject of much drunken speculation and derision by myself and my friends down the pub on a Friday night. Would it not be cheaper just to sail around the peninsula, given that a canal through mountainous Korea would require a large number of locks and would thus take a great deal of time?
Can’t wait for a barge to hit a tanker in the canal.
Hey Mr. Marmot,
You linked to your own comment. Is that the ego talking?
My bad. Link corrected.
aaronm,
Hodawn. It takes time.
Just wait one year. A small town may take two years.
Things are definitely moving in the right direction.
Baduk,
I hope so, for the sake of those left behind. I’m off to the tropics as soon as my contract is done.
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