Meet the Salaryman in Chief

Lee Myung-Bak was elected president of South Korea in December on promises to enhance competitiveness by ending left-leaning policies and improving ties with Washington. Before being sworn in on Monday, he met with NEWSWEEK's Christian Caryl and B. J. Lee in his transition office—his only interview with Western media since the election. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Your " Global Korea " vision has drawn keen interest at home and abroad. Why are you pursing globalization when it is under challenge in so many parts of the world?
Lee: Globalization is a reality. Advanced nations benefit from it, while some developing countries are hurt by it. Korea has a small land mass, a large population and few resources. But we achieved development through globalization, [so] Korea wants to continue active globalization. As the world's 11th largest economy, we will also try to meet our responsibilities in the international community.

But in Korea, some are worried about globalization ' s downsides. Are Koreans ready for it?
The majority of the people think globalization is unavoidable and helps the national interest. But farmers, especially dairy farmers, resist. The government [must] persuade them that their lives will improve.

During your campaign, you promised big reform. What will South Korea look like in five years?
With the looming world financial crisis and high oil and raw-material prices, things are difficult. We will try to recover our national competitiveness. Deregulation will be pursued to meet global standards. After five years, our society will show the face of an advanced first-rate country. Currently we are advanced in some areas but not in others. But in five years, Korea will become a mature country that can work with the international community.

Some draw a parallel between you and French President Nicolas Sarkozy because both of you are for globalization and have pro-American attitudes.
During the election, I looked at Sarkozy's platforms. I found a lot of similarities [to my own]: [in] reforming the public sector, improving relations between business and labor and changing social customs. But I wouldn't say that he is pro-American per se. Rather, the relationship between France and the U.S. has not been very good in the past, and President Sarkozy is trying to improve it and bring it back to normal because he considers that to be in the interest of France. I will also work toward improving the alliance with the U.S. But we need a new relationship suitable for a new era.

Koreans have mixed views of the United States. What would be the ideal relationship?
We have a long history between our countries. During and after the Korean War, the U.S. led the U.N. efforts to defend [us] against communist aggression, and we were very much affected by U.S. liberal democracy and market economics. That is how we achieved our development. In the beginning, Korea received unilateral help from the U.S. in both security and economic matters. But now we need a future-oriented relationship.