YONHAP NEWS

Majority of S. Koreans anticipate Lee Myung-bak will 'do well'

   By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans expect that President-elect Lee Myung-bak, elected in a landslide victory Dec. 19, will govern the nation well and revitalize the sluggish economy during his five-year term, surveys showed Friday.

   Over 79 percent of citizens expect Lee to conduct state affairs smoothly, while a mere 13.9 percent believe the opposite, local broadcaster CBS said, citing a Thursday poll of 500 adults nationwide.

   Results of the survey, jointly conducted with polling group Real Meter, have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level.

   Lee won last week's election with almost 50 percent support, capitalizing on the public's frustration over what critics say was a slack economic policy under the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun government.

   President Roh was blamed for slow facility investment, skyrocketing real estate prices, soaring joblessness and widening economic polarization.

   Lee, who will be inaugurated Feb. 25, stressed during his campaign his economic expertise as a former chief executive officer of Hyundai Construction and Engineering, and promised to expand the nation's annual growth rate to 7 percent during his five-year tenure.
Citizens in the conservative Gyeongsang provinces were the most optimistic about the next government, with 93 percent of South Gyeongsang residents and 83.4 percent of North Gyeongsang residents saying Lee will do well.

   Liberal Jeolla province showed the lowest level of positive expectation with 61.5 percent.

   South Koreans are divided regionally between liberal Jeolla province and conservative Gyeongsang, with regionalism often playing a crucial role in elections. President-elect Lee and his Grand National Party are generally supported by right-leaning citizens.

   The older generation expressed higher expectations for Lee with 86.7 percent of the citizens aged 50 or more saying Lee will do well. Only 69.8 percent of 20-somethings said Lee would do well, with 23.8 percent saying he would not.

   In a separate poll conducted by the vernacular daily Donga Ilbo, 65 of 100 local financial experts said the nation's economy will improve next year.

   Among the 100 experts were CEOs of local large companies and financial groups, college professors and heads of finance research institutes.

   In a similar poll conducted shortly after the election of President Roh, only 10 out of 100 experts had given the same answer.

   Eighty-two experts said the Lee administration would help revitalize South Korea's economy, while 61 said that Roh's economic policies were a failure.

   Up to 45 experts expected Korea to achieve an annual growth rate of 4.5 to 5 percent next year, followed by 28 people who chose 5 percent and 22 who chose 4 to 4.5 percent.

   Among the 35 CEOs who participated in the survey, 26 or 74 percent, said that they were planning to expand investment during the Lee administration.

   hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)