Lee Myung-bak - Early Political Career

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.

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