Yoon: "Decisions of Lee Seungman and Park Chunghee Laid the Foundation for Today's Prosperity"

51st Commerce Day Ceremony Special Lecture
Evaluation of Achievements of Chairmen Lee Byung-chul and Chung Ju-yung

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on the 20th, "Just as it is said that President Park Chung-hee's locomotive ran on the rails laid by President Lee Seung-man, the great decisions of the two presidents became the foundation for today's prosperity."

President Yoon made this remark during a special lecture titled "Freedom of Corporate Activities and the Role of the State in a Liberal Economic System" at the 51st Commerce Day ceremony held at the 63 Convention Center in Yeouido, Seoul.

President Yoon stated, "Recently, the documentary War of Founding surpassed 1.16 million viewers. I believe it provided the public with an opportunity to view our modern history, including former President Lee Seung-man. Looking back from the founding of the Republic of Korea to today, there were great decisions at every turning point in history. When liberation came in 1945, the northern region chose communist totalitarianism, while we, under former President Lee Seung-man's decision, founded the Republic of Korea based on liberal democracy and a capitalist market economy."

He continued, "With the establishment of the government in 1948, the foundation of the Republic of Korea was laid through the three major reforms: land reform, educational reform, and political reform. Although it is now taken for granted that anyone can own land, enjoy the right to study, and freely exercise one vote, at that time, these were revolutionary decisions."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Referring to former President Lee's establishment of the nuclear power infrastructure and former President Park's long-term nuclear power plan and the construction of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1, he said, "Starting from this, our country has now become a global nuclear power powerhouse," emphasizing, "There is no end to listing former President Park Chung-hee's achievements, but his greatest accomplishment was raising a nation that had fallen into defeatism."

He also highly praised the achievements of former Samsung Group Chairman Lee Byung-chul and former Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Ju-young in Korean economic history. President Yoon said, "Along with these two presidents, there are also great entrepreneurs we must remember," adding, "Chairman Lee Byung-chul's foresight, who led the way from textiles to fertilizers, and then from electronics to semiconductors, created today's Samsung and the Republic of Korea."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "When Chairman Chung Ju-young planned to build a shipyard in 1971, he took out a 500-won bill and showed the picture of the Turtle Ship, persuading others that we had already built such ironclad ships 500 years ago in the 1500s, which helped him secure a loan."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.