Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak Preferred by University Students

A survey found that university students picked former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak as their most favorite politician and economic growth as the most urgent issue to be dealt with.

University New Network (UNN), on the occasion of its 18th anniversary, surveyed 2,001 university students from 20 universities across the nation, and 22.4 percent of the respondents stated that they prefer Lee among the politicians, followed by former Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye (20.8 percent) and President Roh Moo-hyun (16.1 percent).

In last year’s survey, Roh was the most favorite (16.4 percent) followed by Park (16 percent) and Uri party lawmaker Rhyu Si-min (12 percent). The former mayor then ranked sixth at 4.9 percent.

UNN explained that the number of politically progressive students has not changed much, while many moderate students turned to the conservative right, which is cultivating conservatism in universities.

UNN also learned that 29.1 percent of students believe economic growth is the nation’s top priority followed by income disparity (26.1 percent) and fighting corruption (12.2 percent).

peacechaos@donga.com