Lee Hae-chan (born 10 July 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as Leader of the

Democratic Party of Korea The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK; ), formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), is a liberal political party in South Korea. Controlling the unicameral National Assembly as of 2022, the DPK is regarded as one of two maj ...

from 2018 to 2020. He also served as

Prime Minister of South Korea The prime minister of the Republic of Korea (PMOTROK or PMOSK; ) is the deputy head of government and the second highest political office of South Korea who is appointed by the President of the Republic of Korea, with the National Assembly's app ...

from 2004 to 2006. He served as

Member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

for the

Gwanak District Gwanak District (Gwanak-gu) is an administrative subdivision (''gu'') of Seoul, South Korea. It lies on the southern skirt of Seoul, bordering Anyang of Gyeonggi Province. The southern border of Gwanak-gu, bordering Anyang, consists of the cra ...

from 1988 to 1995 and 1996 to 2008. He served as Minister of Education under President

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korea, South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democra ...

from 1998 to 1999. He presided over controversial education reforms including revamping the college entrance process and lowering the retirement age of teachers. He later served under President

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

from July 2004 to March 2006. On 27 August 2018, he was elected the leader of the

Political career

Minister for Education

Hae-chan instituted reforms to the college admissions process. At the time was summed up in the slogan that being good at one thing was enough to get into college, was criticised for allegedly lowering dramatically the scholastic competence of the so-called "Lee Hae-chan generation" of then-high school students.

Prime Minister of South Korea

He was nominated by President

to become

on 28 July 2004, confirmed by the National Assembly on 29 July, and took office on 30 July. His nomination as prime minister met some resistance due to his record as minister of education, which many consider a failure. Since taking office, however, Lee has proved an able prime minister, being described by some as the most powerful prime minister South Korea has seen.

Golf-game scandal

On 1 March 2006, the Korean Railroad Workers Union and Seoul Subway Union entered a strike together. The strike of railroad and subway at the same time proved to be a fatal blow at the nation's economic activity, especially

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

area, where traffic heavily depend on subway, which is controlled by these two unions. Prime Minister Lee was supposed to command the situation and mediate the strike; however, he was playing golf at

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

area with local businessmen, and this caused massive distaste among Korean people against Lee for not taking care of the government and people.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Hae Chan 1952 births Living people Minjoo Party of Korea politicians Uri Party politicians United New Democratic Party politicians Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) Jeonju Yi clan Seoul National University alumni People from South Chungcheong Province Education ministers of South Korea

Political career

Minister for Education

Prime Minister of South Korea

Golf-game scandal

See also

References