It looks like that the next President of Korea will be former Mayor of Seoul Lee Myung-bak after he won his party’s primary over rival Park Guen-hye.  This isn’t surprising since Lee has had double digit poll leads over Park before the primary and has even larger poll numbers over all the other Presidential candidates from opposing parties.  His high poll numbers make it very likely that Lee Myung-bak will be the next President of Korea.  Here is what Lee had to say after winning the primary:

`From now on, I will work closely with my supporters and opponents to have the GNP win December’s election. I will place top priority on uniting all GNP members under one roof,” he said.

“I will incorporate key campaign pledges of other candidates into my policy vision. I will help the economy grow faster so that the country can become an advanced country in five years,” he said.

He definitely needs to Park Guen-hye to close ranks with him to keep a united front against the candidate’s from other parties.  The worst thing for Lee would be if Park leaves the GNP and joins another party to keep her bid for president alive because it would divide the conservative vote and open the door for another liberal like current President Roh Moo-hyun to become president. 

I understand Lee Myung-bak’s comments to improve the economy because it does need work, but his claim to turn Korea into an advanced nation I find interesting because Korea is already physically an advanced nation.  I hear quite often that Korea is a "developing nation".  Korea is physically an advanced nation that has hosted the Olympics, the World Cup, an APEC Summit, among a host of other international events.  What other "developing nation" has accomplished such things?  Korea is not a "developing nation", but the mindset of many Koreans thinks it is and when Lee talks about becoming an advanced nation I hope what he means is changing the national psyche to match the physical affluence of the country.  This is a change would bring out the true potential of the nation. 

More on Lee’s election win over at the Marmot’s Hole.