Former President Lee pushed “resource diplomacy” from the get-go

Posted on : 2014-11-17 16:09 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
As part of overseas push, Lee could have also secured kickbacks for political funds

While resource diplomacy is much maligned today as a prime example of wasting taxpayers’ money, it was a major initiative on which former President Lee Myung-bak staked his future from the beginning of his time in office.

One of the reasons that Han Seung-su, then special envoy on climate change to the UN, was selected in 2008 to be Lee’s first prime minister was that the broad overseas network he had developed during his time as a diplomat made him the ideal person for resource diplomacy.

Lee’s emphasis on resource diplomacy is also reflected in the remarks he made the first time he presided over a meeting of the heads of overseas missions after taking office (he ruled from 2008-2013). “You should use economic and resource diplomacy with the countries you are based in to promote the national interest,” Lee told diplomats at the meeting.

Lee’s focus on resource diplomacy is closely connected with “saving the economy,” which he declared to be his primary objective as president. While this was partially due to Lee’s conviction as a former businessman that both politics and diplomacy are be dedicated to aiding the economy, a more fundamental reason was the inherent limitations of a “build-it administration” that believed its legitimacy derived from development and economic growth.

In addition to this, Lee’s personal experience with the development of oil fields in Iraq and a gas development project in Yakutsk, Russia, during his time at Hyundai Construction are believed to have prompted him to spur resource diplomacy.

While some politicians are asking whether Lee used resource diplomacy as a means of providing kickbacks for political funds, even members of the opposition think it is unlikely that this was the primary objective from the very beginning.

One person who holds this view is Park Ji-won, a member of the emergency committee of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), who has been dredging up the problems with Lee’s resource diplomacy since 2008.

“At the time, oil prices were soaring, and China was making aggressive moves to secure resources overseas. Given those circumstances, there was probably a sense of crisis, a sense that South Korea needed to accelerate its efforts too. The problem is that the people in the lead were powerful associates of the president - including former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk (also Lee Myung-bak’s older brother) and former vice minister Park Young-jun - who lacked experience or expertise in the area. They pushed these projects through rashly in order to score political points,” Park said.

One view inside the ruling Saenuri Party (NFP) is that the resource diplomacy projects got off track when Lee Sang-deuk - who was pushed from the spotlight when party reformers called for his resignation in 2009 - exploited them as a way to hold on to and show off his influence.

“With the president’s brother going around and making a lot of noise about buying up resources overseas, brokers and businesspeople in other countries smelled an opportunity and worked together to rip off the government. Simply put, he was played for a fool, and spent massive sums of money doing it,” said one Saenuri Party member who was part of the reform movement at the time.

One prevalent view among NPAD lawmakers is that, if a parliamentary investigation is carried out, it should concentrate on uncovering kickbacks that were given while these deals were being carried out.

“Considering the difficulty of monitoring overseas development projects, it is very likely that big bribes were given. The National Assembly should go beyond looking into how taxpayers’ money was wasted and investigate corruption by people in power,” said Kim Je-nam, lawmaker for the Justice Party.

 

By Lee Se-young, staff reporter

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