Lee Myung-bak

Born in Osaka in 1941, Lee Myung-bak rose through Hyundai Engineering and Construction to become its chief executive before pivoting to politics. He served as Seoul's mayor from 2002 to 2006, then won the presidency in 2008 on a business-minded platform. His five years in office brought a harder line on North Korea and a higher global profile for South Korea, including hosting the 2010 G-20 summit, but domestic opposition to his policies ran hot. A year after leaving office in 2013, the reformist wing of his own party had already broken with him; five years later, prosecutors came. In March 2018 he was arrested on charges of taking 11 billion won in bribes and funneling 35 billion won into a slush fund, posting a handwritten denial on Facebook hours before the cuffs went on. He was convicted that October and sentenced to 15 years, later raised to 17 by the Supreme Court in 2020. In December 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol pardoned him, cutting short what remained of the sentence.