native_name_lang predecessor successor birth_place party native_name birth_date order term_start image article_title term_end name
ko goh kun han myeong-sook cheongyang , south chungcheong , south korea democratic united party 이해찬 10 july 1952 36th prime minister of south korea june 30 , 2004 lee hae-chan . jpg lee hae-chan
 march 15 , 2006 lee hae-chan
lee hae-chan

lee hae-chan -lrb- born july 10 , 1952 -rrb- is a former prime minister of south korea .
he was nominated by president roh moo-hyun on june 8 , 2004 , confirmed by the national assembly on june 29 , and took office on june 30 .
he is a member of the liberal uri party , and was elected five times for the national assembly .
on march 14 , 2006 , he resigned amidst the so-called golf game scandal .
he also served as the minister of education under former president kim dae-jung from 1998 to 1999 , presiding over controversial education reforms including revamping the college entrance process and lowering the retirement age of teachers .
the first reform in particular , which at the time was summed up in the slogan that being good at one thing was enough to get into college , was criticised for allegedly lowering dramatically the scholastic competence of the so-called `` lee hae-chan generation '' of then-high school students .
his nomination as prime minister met some resistance due to his record as minister of education , which many consider a failure .
since taking office , however , lee has proved an able prime minister , being described by some as the most powerful prime minister south korea has seen .
on march 1 , 2006 , the korean railroad workers union and seoul subway union entered a strike together .
the strike of railroad and subway at the same time proved to be a fatal blow at the nation 's economic activity , especially seoul area , where traffic heavily depend on subway , which is controlled by these two unions .
prime minister lee was supposed to command the situation and mediate the strike ; however , he was playing golf at busan area with local businessmen , and this caused massive distaste among korean people against lee for not taking care of the government and people .
