With the lessons taken from the financial crisis in 1997, the Republic of Korea has been able to surmount the global economic crisis rather successfully.

He is married to Kim Yoon-ok and has three daughters and one son. He promised to seek a Korean Economic Community agreement to establish the legal and systemic framework for any projects emerging from the negotiations. S.

He ended his five-year term on February 25 2013 and was succeeded by Park Geun-hye. His older brother is Lee Sang-deuk a South Korean politician. Lee altered the South Korean government's approach to North Korea preferring a more hardline strategy in the wake of increased provocation from the North though he was supportive of regional dialogue with Russia China and Japan.