Economy Looms Over South Korea Election

SEOUL, South Korea — As South Koreans headed to the polls for their countrys presidential election on Wednesday, voters appeared ready to choose Lee Myung-bak, a pro-business candidate identified with the nation’s economic growth but bedeviled by corruption charges.

South Koreans’ concern about their economy, squeezed between high-tech Japan and low-cost China, runs so deep that renewed charges this week of ethical lapses by Mr. Lee failed to shatter their belief that it was time to elect a man considered capable of reviving the economy, pollsters said.

To many here, Mr. Lee, the conservative candidate from the opposition Grand National Party who has promised to become the “economy president,” represents “old Korea,” an era when an ability to create jobs and keep the economy growing was seen as paramount for a national leader.

On Tuesday, Seoul’s streets reverberated with loudspeaker messages from rival campaigners.

“If we have a capable leader, we won’t be afraid of Japan and China,” Mr. Lee shouted as 1,000 cheering supporters waved signs reading “Save the economy!” in front of a Seoul department store.

Mr. Lee’s election would signal a transfer of power between the political forces that have shaped South Korea.

The conservative, anticommunist “industrialization force” ruled until the mid-1990s, its time marked by rapid economic growth and often corrupt authoritarianism.

In the past decade, the liberal “democracy force” has taken charge, promoting egalitarianism at home and peace with North Korea, but it is perceived to have bungled the economy.

Even if Mr. Lee wins and restores conservative rule — without authoritarianism — the transition will be anything but smooth.

The liberal-dominated Parliament voted Monday for an independent counsel to investigate accusations that Mr. Lee had engaged in stock manipulation, had hidden a fortune in real estate investments and had repeatedly lied about it. Mr. Lee has denied the charges and has said he will give up the presidency if he is convicted of any of them.

Mr. Lee — a former star executive at several subsidiaries of Hyundai, the best known among the nation’s chaebol, or family-controlled industrial conglomerates — would be the first businessman-turned-president in South Korea.

Pollsters and political analysts said South Koreans were so used to financial scandals involving chaebol executives that they were ready to withhold moral indignation and give Mr. Lee a chance to create jobs and curb soaring housing prices.

But they also said voter turnout on Wednesday could be unusually low, as some people, disenchanted with Mr. Lee’s ethics but also angry with the liberals’ economic incompetence, may decide to stay home.

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