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NO HARD FEELINGS: Mr Lee with his defeated opponent Ms Park, who has promised to work with him to return the GNP to power. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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SEOUL - FORMER Seoul mayor Lee Myung Bak yesterday narrowly defeated the daughter of a late president to become the front runner for South Korea's top post.
The Grand National Party (GNP) announced yesterday that Mr Lee, 65, won 49.6 per cent of an internal vote on Sunday compared with 48.1 per cent for Ms Park Geun Hye.
More than 110,000 GNP members and ordinary Koreans voted on Sunday and their ballots were combined with the outcome of an opinion poll of about 6,000 people to determine the winner.
The contest for the GNP's presidential ticket was bitterly fought.
Mr Lee's lead over Ms Park shrank in recent weeks as he came under fire for alleged real estate speculation and other irregularities while amassing a fortune of 33.1 billion won (S$54 million). He has denied the allegations.
Ms Park's supporters had confidently predicted a come-from-behind victory.
Fears of a possible split within South Korea's main opposition party were put to rest after Ms Park, 55, promised yesterday to work with Mr Lee to return the GNP to power. She is the daughter of authoritarian former president Park Chung Hee.
The GNP, which lost the last two presidential elections in 1997 and 2002, is currently the most popular political party with a 40 per cent approval rating.
Mr Lee's reputation as a leader who gets things done has struck a chord with voters whose top concern is the economy. His latest approval rating of 40 per cent is far ahead of presidential hopefuls from the newly formed United New Democratic Party (UNDP).
The UNDP, which will pick its flag-bearer in October, comprises mainly current and former members of the Uri Party and a few lawmakers from a minor opposition party.
Party officials revealed that while Ms Park received more votes from party members, Mr Lee scored better in the public opinion poll.
'With soaring real estate prices and high youth unemployment rate, people are looking to Mr Lee to enable them to buy houses and find jobs,' said Sungkyunkwan University political science professor Kim Il Young.
As the chief executive officer of Hyundai Construction, Mr Lee was part of a crucial team of businessmen that drove South Korea's economic boom for three decades starting in 1965. He left the company to join politics in 1992.
His company laid the foundation for the country's economic growth by constructing highways, bridges, roads and vessels.
As Seoul mayor from 2002 to 2006, he was widely acclaimed for tearing down an elevated highway in the heart of the capital - put up when he was a top executive at Hyundai Construction - and restoring a stream flowing underneath.
Going forward, his key campaign pledge is to create a US$15 billion (S$23 billion) cross-country canal that will lower transport costs and become a new tourist attraction. He has also promised to roll back red tape hindering business, rein in disruptive labour unions and open the country wider to foreign investors.
These efforts, he said, would help him achieve what was dubbed as the 747 campaign pledge - 7 per cent economic growth, increase per capita income to US$40,000 and make South Korea the world's seventh- largest economy.
South Korea, whose per capita income last year was US$24,200, is the world's 12th-largest economy and has a projected growth rate of 4.6 per cent.
leeteejong@yahoo.com
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