[QUOTE="IAmNot_fun"]Yup, but I still stay in touch with Korean politics (though I really don't need to since I'm no longer a citizen). It's not fair to call Lee a conservative. More like a corrupt f*** that sets his policies for personal and his relative/friend's gain. SK is utopia compared to NK, but it's far from being a good place to live. - Young people can't find a job other than part-time jobs with pays often less than minimum wage. - Unionizations are suppressed - Megacorporations monopolize on virtually everything - People with power/money are exempt from law - Corruption among prosecutors and judges - One of the worst social security spendings among OECD - Good, profitable public infrastructures that exist are being sold off to private firms (that are owned by president's family or friends) - High rape and suicide rate - Constant fear of war, and political right wing parties abusing such fear for their benefits - S***tiest educational system that teaches nothing but how to get good marks in a government exam - Extremely deep regional, generational contention (I mean between provinces within South Korea). Also abused by right wing party - Current bastardization of history by government trying to glamourize military regime of past (one of the most powerful individual in the country is a daughter of one of the dictators) - No dictator on this country (we had 4) were tried and served his sentence. 2 of them were tried, sentenced to death, but pardoned and now live freely. - HUGE media censorship in last few years - VERY racist. What's worst is that people think it's all right to be xenophobic pricks. - Outdated neoconfucian ideals hindering many things in society - Extremely bureaucratic society. Very corrupt too. - Gaming industry is literally getting pummelled by government (apparently they instigate school violence....) - Minimum wage is barely 3-4 dollars. - But inflation has been high for last few years - and much more It's a lovely place to visit really. Big cities, beautiful places, great food, etc. But I would never recommend living there.Aljosa23
Intense stuff, bro.I've read articles about how all the big corporate conglomerates control everything there. LG, Samsung, etc. Wasn't Lee a former CEO of Samsung? I believe the term used was "chaebol". And yeah, I've heard a lot about their education system. A lot of it is good like moving to electronic textbooks and the high grades and other stuff is bad like student suicide and how you must graduate University if you hope to go anywhere in life.
I think South Korea is a very interesting country, even more so than other economic miracles in Asia such as China, Japan, and Singapore.
Lee was a high rank official in Hyundai. But as a president, he has grown a quite intimate relationship with Samsung. Korean schools end at like 6PM, and students then go to private tutoring till midnight. But the education system is mostly memorization and concept of application is not really appreciated. In the end, they know a lot of things, but they can't use such knowledge. Also the schools fail at teaching basic social values. And they do math without calculator and think it's some kind of a thing to brag about (when they can be miles more efficient when using one). Korea is very very interesting politically. Its nature as a divided country makes a very interesting study for political science. 
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