Early Political Career
In 1992 Lee made the transition from business to politics. He joined the Democratic Liberal Party instead of the Unification National Party, founded by Chung Ju-yung. He was elected as a member of the 14th Korean National Assembly (for Proportional representation). Upon being elected, he stated that he ran because "after watching Mikhail Gorbachev change the world climate I wanted to see if there was anything I could do." In 1995, he ran for the City of Seoul's mayoral election, but during the primary of the Democratic Liberal Party, former prime minister Chung Won-sik was selected as the candidate.
In 1996, Lee was re-elected as a member of the Korean National Assembly. He represented Jongno-gu in Seoul. At the election, one of his opponents was another future president, Roh Moo-hyun. Roh was ranked 3rd place.
After he became a second-term lawmaker, it was disclosed that he had spent excessively in his election campaign by his former secretary Kim Yoo-chan. After receiving USD 18,000 from Lee, Kim wrote a letter reversing his disclosure and fled the country. He resigned in 1998 before being fined 7 million won for breaking election law and appeasing Kim to flee. In the by-election that was held after his resignation, Roh Moo-hyun was elected as his successor.
Read more about this topic: Lee Myung-bak
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