South Korea's New Prez

Roh Moo Hyun, South Korea's new president, compares himself to Abraham Lincoln. Both grew up poor and put themselves through law school. Both failed at politics many times before becoming President. Both became president during difficult times. And both suck! (sorry, the Lew Rockwell in me slipped out just then)

I'm sure Mr. Roh is a friendly enough guy, and I admire his career accomplishments and his commitment to keepin' it real, but he's also trying to institute leftist reforms that would make Hillary Clinton guffaw.

Roh has signaled that he plans major shake-ups. To fulfill his promises of equality for women, for example, Roh has asked his transition staff to draw up plans to create affirmative action programs, quotas for public and private hiring, and a vast increase in the country's child-care system, at a potential cost of billions of dollars.

"He said, don't be hostage to the budget. He will use whatever money he needs," said Chung Young Ai, who is in charge of women's issues on his transition staff. "He's not trying to change little by little. He believes in an overhaul."

He's also pretty much an anti-chaebol kinda guy, with talks of income redistribution and opening the conglomerates up to class action suits from stockholders. (this is not to say that I am pro-chaebol, but certainly there are better pro-market, pro-competition reforms that could be made. Taxing these guys to death won't help anything.) Of course, what is scariest, and most pertinent to Americans, is Mr. Roh's idea of how to get the Koreas together again: total capitulation to Kim Jong-il's extortion. In a word, ack.