hankyoreh

As expected, every page of the memoir of former president Lee Myung-bak is chock-full of self-congratulation, contrived and paradoxical justifications, chopped logic, and evasion of responsibility. Without a smidgen of humble reflection or a trace of remorse for his time in office, Lee’s brazen-faced insistence on not having made any mistakes is evident throughout.

If an autobiography can ultimately be said to show what a person looks like, Lee’s memoir paradoxically reveals how, throughout his life, he has relied on petty tricks and hypocrisy, searching for a short cut to success.

When one reaches the passage where Lee claims that the Four Major Rivers Project “played an important role in helping South Korea overcome the financial crisis faster than other countries,” one cannot help but burst into laughter.

The Four Major Rivers Project is a classic example of a reckless government endeavor that squandered public funds.

The National Assembly Budget Office, along with various research institutes, reached the same conclusion: if the 22 trillion won (US$20 billion) that was spent on the project had been put to a different use, it would have been much more beneficial for the South Korean economy.

Considering that the Four Major Rivers Project was largely to blame for lowering the South Korean economy’s growth potential and weakening its ability to bounce back after the financial crisis, Lee’s claim is sophistry at its finest.

Lee’s justification and rationalization about his resource diplomacy - a complete failure that did nothing other than waste taxpayers’ money - are likely to enrage the South Korean public.

“Only two years have passed since I left office, which means people shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions by making a negative assessment about my resource diplomacy,” Lee said. But the outcome is already pretty clear for a fair number of the many projects into which Lee‘s administration poured massive amounts of money, and that outcome is clearly not pretty.

Considering that the massive debt incurred by public companies will have to be repaid with taxpayers’ money, Lee’s boasts about his resource diplomacy are truly audacious.

When Lee claims that the Office of the Prime Minister was ultimately in charge of developing overseas resources, he is both passing the buck and misrepresenting the facts. Lee signed 24 MOUs about resource diplomacy during his five years in office while his older brother Lee Sang-deuk signed 11; the Prime Minister only signed four.

Taking all the credit for himself and leaving the blame for others: this is the chronic disease from which Lee suffered during his presidency, and he is still suffering from it today.

The part of the memoir where Lee blames the previous administration for the rushed negotiations about importing US beef is even more astonishing.

One day before a South Korea-US summit, Lee had the government abruptly accept the American proposal about hygiene requirements for imported US beef. Lee wanted to have a “gift” to offer the American leader at the meeting. Even today, this decision is considered a quintessential diplomatic blunder.

It was the Lee administration’s timid diplomatic stance that resulted in the over-generous negotiations. How shameless Lee must be to shift the blame for that mistake to the government that preceded him.

The same applies to Lee’s revelation that North Korea proposed holding summit talks on several occasions, but that he “refused on principle.” By squandering golden opportunities to improve inter-Korean relations, Lee’s approach to dealing with North Korea ended in failure. Lee should not be bragging about this; he should be on his knees repenting.

Disclosing private proposals to hold an inter-Korean summit and making public every last detail of the diplomatic relationship between South Korea and China is very likely to have a negative effect on South Korea‘s relations with North Korea and China. For a former president, this is a truly irresponsible attitude.

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