|
 |
President Lee Myung-bak's popularity has slumped
to below 20 per cent |
South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak is under siege as calls against lifting bans on US beef snowball into a wider protest movement.
Just six months ago, Lee Myung-bak won South Korea's presidency in a landslide, with promises to reform the economy and vows to repair relations with the US.
Today, his popularity has slumped to below 20 per cent and hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in almost nightly protests against Lee and his government.
What started out as small demonstrations against the decision to resume imports of American beef has snowballed into wider anger against Lee's policies on education, health and rising fuel prices.
With increasing calls for a general strike and for Lee's resignation, 101 East asks if the man they call the 'Bulldozer' is about to get flattened.
Host Teymoor Nabili is joined by Hahm Sung Deuk, a professor of political economy at Korea University, Song Young-Sun, a member of South Korea's parliamentary assembly, and journalist and author Donald Kirk.
This episode of 101 East aired on Thursday, June 19, 2008
|