Talent, driving ambition mark South Korea's president-elect

In an image released yesterday in Seoul, South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-Bak (third from right) was among protesters facing trial for involvement in a 1964 protest.

SEOUL - The man chosen as South Korea's next president in yesterday's election owes much of his victory to a wildly successful project he completed as this city's mayor: the restoration in 2005 of a paved-over, 4-mile stream in downtown Seoul, over which an ugly highway had been built during the growth-at-all-cost 1970s.

The reborn stream spawned a gathering place akin to Central Park, tapped into a growing national emphasis on quality of life, and immediately made the mayor, Lee Myung-bak, a top presidential contender. The media's glowing reviews, though, sometimes pointed out that the highway had been built by a construction company Lee himself once headed.

Few individuals symbolized South Korea's once singleminded focus on economic growth more than Lee, who became known as the "Bulldozer." The nickname has stuck, though Lee is now apparently ambivalent about it.

"Lee Myung-bak is a man who has evolved," said Jeong Tae-keun, an aide who also served as one of Lee's vice mayors.

Just how much Lee has changed was a central question in the presidential campaign and may yet rob him of his victory. Although Lee had been the clear front-runner for months, he was dogged by questions about his ethics. And a new investigation into accusations that Lee was involved in a stock-manipulation case will soon be under way. If he were found guilty before his inauguration on Feb. 25, he would not be allowed to take the oath of office.

Detractors say Lee lacks the character to become president of a country that, in recent years, has made great strides in shedding corrupt business and politics. But supporters say that Lee, who would be the country's first president from the corporate world, should not be judged by another era's ethical standards and that he remains the most competent of candidates.

Even his detractors would not deny that Lee, who celebrated both his 66th birthday and 37th wedding anniversary yesterday, has led an extraordinary life, portrayed as heroic in a 1990 television series called "Time of Ambition." Rising from desperate poverty, Lee collected garbage to put himself through college. At age 36, he became, in a society that respects seniority, the chief executive of Hyundai Construction, a key player in South Korea's economic development.

Lee has a reputation as a pragmatist who, in contrast to President Roh Moo-hyun, holds few strong ideological positions. As mayor, he created parks and reformed the public transportation system. As president, he said, his main agenda would be to revive the country's economy.

According to his autobiography, "There Is No Myth," he was raised in a Christian family that was so poor that he and his siblings often went hungry. A bright student, he won scholarships to an evening commercial high school. He sold popcorn in front of a girls' high school, his face blackened by the smoke from the machine.

"Every time a girl walked by and stared at me," he wrote, "my face burned with embarrassment."

Lee was accepted at Korea University here, one of the country's top colleges, and was elected student president in the business department.

Lee became a student activist and spent several months in prison after demonstrating against the normalization of diplomatic ties with Japan. He found himself on a government blacklist and unable to find work after graduation.

Instead of studying overseas like others in his predicament, Lee wrote a letter to President Park Chung-hee, the military ruler at the time. Unexpectedly, a presidential aide came to see Mr. Lee who, according to his memoir, told him: "A nation becomes responsible forever for a young man if it blocks him from standing on his own two feet."

Lee soon joined Hyundai Construction, where he rose quickly through a combination of talent, will, and hard work.

No one doubts Lee's competence but many have questioned his ethics. He has admitted trying to evade taxes by falsely registering two of his children as employees of a company he owned, and using false addresses to enroll his children in better schools. The new investigation is into whether he had any involvement in a troubled company called BBK, at the center of the stock manipulation case. He has denied any link to the company.