Pres. Lee Expresses His Agony to Inner Circle

President Lee Myung-bak has reportedly confessed his agony to his inner circle, as mass protests against American beef forced him to fire all of his presidential secretaries and back off from his key policies.

A key confidante who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday, “The president told us with a bitter smile, ‘I have power, but we can do nothing about the public and politics.’”

“He doesn’t like using emotional expression, but I could tell he was getting everything off his chest on that day.”

The confidante also said, “The president didn’t deny that public anger swept away his ambitious plans to transform the country into a business-friendly nation and to overhaul state-run companies. But he did not hide his bitterness over the breakdown.”

Despite President Lee’s silence, presidential staff members confirmed that he frequently calls his friends to figure out what is occurring outside the presidential office.

A senior member of the presidential office said, “On key issues, he tries not only to find out facts, but also background information.”

President Lee also presented Monday copies of Winston Churchill’s memoirs to his 350 senior staff members, an apparent extension of his emotion.

Churchill’s granddaughter wrote the book based on her feelings and encounters with him. The book indicates President Lee’s sense of desperation and his perception of the situation as his Maginot Line.

Handing out the books, Lee reportedly also wrote a message on them saying, “Cheer up! It’s hard but if we persist, we will win in the end.”

From Saturday through Wednesday, President Lee will take his first vacation since taking office with his family, said his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.

The president’s son Si-hyeong cannot join since he is doing an internship at Hankook Tire.

The president will reportedly read poetry and books to relieve his fatigue from the beef controversy.

The vacation was originally slated for a week, but pressing matters such as a parliamentary probe into beef imports and the killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier forced him to cut his break short.

ddr@donga.com