Lee Myung-bak and Park Chung Hee

In a highly personalized book about the life of South Korean Lee Myung-bak (pictured), a group of Chinese authors (including possibly two ethnic Korean-Chinese) wrote that Lee’s real name was “Sang Gyong” (相京). But his mother convinced Lee’s father to change it to Myung-bak (明博), meaning “bright” and “broad” as she had a vivid dream about the moon when she was pregnant with Lee.

In tracing Lee’s life, the authors wrote somewhat extensively about Korea’s recent history and development, including how former President Park Chung Hee was mesmerized by the idea of expressways, seeing these super highways as a sign of a country’s progress. (韩国总统李明博，朴键一 焦艳 姬新龙 王晓玲 著，红旗出版社2008)

In 1964, a proposal by Park to build an expressway from Seoul to Busan was derided by everyone except Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung. Critics queried the need for having an expressway when the country “had hardly any cars.” Some even said that "the Taewongun (father of the last ruling Korean king) had already destroyed the country by building Gyongbokgung (palace), and Park was trying to perform a similar feat.”

It turned out that the expressway eventually played a contributory role in Korea’s development. Moreover, the good example and exemplary spirit and hard work set by Chung had “set a glorious example for the Korean business world, and even the ordinary people.” (郑周永在这个工程中表现出来的极大热情和坚韧精神也给整个韩国企业，甚至是普通民众树立了光辉榜样。)

Indeed, it was Park who had first mooted the idea in 1977 of relocating the country’s capital. Park’s concern then was to move the capital further away from the Demilitarized Zone, presumably away from any impending warfare between the two Koreas.

The authors also noted that over the past decade leading to the 2007 presidential election, Koreans, originally progressive, had turned conservative. Because even though progress had been made over the decade in eradicating corruption and improving welfare, economic development had become sluggish, unemployment had risen, and income gap had become more apparent.

Many accused the government of not providing a sound environment for the growth of Korean enterprises, adding that the aggressive trade unions pressing for higher pay had eroded the country’s competitiveness.