Lee Hoi-chang

Not to be confused with Lee Hoi-chuen.

In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

His Excellency The Right Honourable Lee Hoi-chang
이회창
Prime Minister of South Korea
In office 17 December 1993 – 21 April 1994
President	Kim Young-sam
Preceded by	Hwang In-sung
Succeeded by	Lee Yung-dug
Member of the National Assembly
In office 30 May 2008 – 29 May 2012
Preceded by	Hong Moon-pyo
Succeeded by	Hong Moon-pyo
Constituency	Hongseong–Yesan
In office 30 May 2000 – 10 December 2002
Constituency	Proportional representation
In office 4 June 1999 – 29 May 2000
Preceded by	Hong Jun-pyo
Succeeded by	Maeng Hyung-gyu
Constituency	Seoul Songpa A
Leader of the Liberty Forward Party
In office 1 February 2008 – 9 May 2011
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Byun Woong-jeon
President of the Grand National Party
In office 30 August 1998 – 1 April 2002
Preceded by	Cho Soon
Succeeded by	Park Kwan-yong (acting)
President of the New Korea Party
In office 30 September 1997 – 21 November 1997
Preceded by	Kim Young-sam
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1935-06-02) 2 June 1935 Sohung County, Kōkai-dō (Hwanghae Province), Korea, Empire of Japan (now North Korea)
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	New Korea (1996–1997) Grand National (1997–2007) Independent (2007–2008) Liberty Forward (2008–2012) Saenuri (2012–2017)
Spouse	Han In-ok
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	Seoul National University
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature
Korean name
Hangul	이회창
Hanja	李會昌
Revised Romanization	I Hoe-chang
McCune–Reischauer	Yi Hoech'ang
Art name
Hangul	경사
Hanja	俓史
Revised Romanization	Gyeongsa
McCune–Reischauer	Kyŏngsa

Lee Hoi-chang (Korean pronunciation: [i.hø.tɕʰaŋ]; born June 2, 1935) is a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of South Korea from 1993 to 1994. He was a presidential candidate in the 15th, 16th and 17th presidential elections of South Korea. Prior to his presidential campaigns, Lee served as Supreme Court Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.

Early life and education

Lee was born to an elite family in Seoheung, Hwanghae (part of what is now North Korea), but grew up in the South after his father, Lee Hong-gyu, a public prosecutor, was appointed to a new post. Lee studied law at Seoul National University. Lee served as a judge from 1960 to 1980, when he became the country's youngest-ever Supreme Court Justice at the age of 46.

Political career

In 1988, Lee was appointed Chairman of the National Election Commission. He was chosen to head the Board of Audit and Inspection under President Kim Young-sam in 1993. Lee's anti-corruption campaigns in that office gained him the nickname "Bamboo," a Korean term for an upright person of principle. Later in the same year, he was appointed prime minister, but resigned in 1994. His departure was attributed to a frustration with the exclusion of the office of the prime minister from policymaking, in particular concerning North Korea.

In 1996, Lee led the parliamentary campaign of the then-ruling New Korea Party (NKP), which merged with the United Democratic Party to become the Grand National Party (GNP) in 1997. Lee was elected as his party's presidential candidate for the presidential election scheduled for that same year. Lee was initially considered the frontrunner in the race, although his performance in public polling took a hit amid revelations in September that two of his sons had been excused from mandatory military service for reporting for duty underweight, having each lost 22 pounds since their initial physical examinations. Lee ultimately lost to Kim Dae-Jung in the midst of the Asian economic crisis.

Lee again campaigned to win the presidency in 2002, running against Roh Moo-hyun of the incumbent Millennium Democratic Party. Although corruption scandals marred the incumbent government, Lee's campaign suffered from the wave of Anti-American sentiment in Korea generated by the Yangju highway incident. Public opinion of Lee, who was widely seen as being both pro-U.S. and the preferred candidate of the George W. Bush Administration in Washington, D.C., suffered. After losing to Roh by 2% in the December 2002 elections, Lee subsequently announced his retirement from politics.

On November 7, 2007, Lee officially announced his third campaign for the South Korean presidency as an unaligned candidate after quitting the GNP. Launching his campaign late in the race, some two months prior to the election, Lee joined GNP candidate Lee Myung-bak, UNDP contender Chung Dong-young, and Moon Kook-hyun. Running to the right of his opponents, Lee criticized foreign aid to North Korea, arguing that such programs were fiscally burdensome and inappropriate while North Korea continued to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. His presidential bid posed a concern to the conservatives who were eager to regain the presidency after a decade of leftist rule, as it was feared Lee's candidacy would divide the conservative vote; however, Lee Myung-Bak won the December elections with 48.7% of the vote, while Lee Hoi-chang came in third, with approximately 15%. After his 2007 election bid, Lee founded the Liberty Forward Party.

Political positions

Lee has been described as a staunch conservative in the context of South Korean politics. His positions include anti-communism, support for free market capitalism, and a hard-line stance against North Korea. Lee repeatedly criticized Kim Dae-jung's "Sunshine Policy" of engagement and détente with North Korea, and argued for the cessation of foreign aid until the North should dismantle its nuclear weapon program. Lee has called for a crackdown on illegal strikes, and for the appointment of more women to government offices.