Former President Roh Moo-hyun (Photo: a screenshot from ‘Citizen Roh’)
SEOUL, Jun. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – In a nationwide survey asking South Koreans to name the former president and business leader they most admire, Roh Moo-hyun and Hyundai’s founder Chung Ju-yung topped the respective lists, highlighting their enduring legacies.
The poll by Gallup Korea, conducted between March 22 and April 5 with 1,777 respondents aged 13 and above, found that 31% favored Roh, the president from 2003 to 2008. Park Chung-hee, who led South Korea from 1963 to 1979, came second at 24%, followed by Kim Dae-jung, president from 1998 to 2003, at 15%.
The three received 70% of the responses when asked to name the former president they admired most. Moon Jae-in, Roh’s successor from 2017 to 2022, polled at 9%, while the incumbent, Yoon Suk Yeol, received 2.9% of preferences.
Roh was the top choice across age groups in their 20s through 50s, garnering around 40%. For those 60 and older, Park was the leading favorite at 49%. Kim’s popularity hovered in the mid-to-high teens among respondents 30 and above.
Chung Ju-yung, founder of Hyundai (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
When asked about their most admired business leader, 22% named Chung Ju-yung, who founded Hyundai and built it into a global conglomerate. Close behind at 21% was Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of the Samsung empire.
The late Lee Kun-hee, Lee Jae-yong’s father and the longtime chairman of Samsung, came in third at 15%, trailed by Samsung’s founder, Lee Byung-chull, at 6%.
There were some gender differences, with men favoring Chung Ju-yung (25%) and women preferring Lee Jae-yong (24%) as their most admired business leader.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
