Lee Myung-bak, South Korea president, and Stephen A. Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group

Rabbi Arthur Schneier and Paul Volcker, at right, present award to South Korea President Lee Myung-bak, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at left

Elisabeth Schneier, Veronica Kelly and husband Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, and Lee Myung-bak

Rabbi Arthur Schneier introduces Michael Spindelegger (left), Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, to Hungary President Pal Schmitt

Hesung Chun Koh (left), founding chair of East Rock Institute of New Haven, Conn., and Dr. Christopher Y. Park, president

APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE
He Survived With The Aid Of Strangers,
Now Wants To Give Back To The World

W

HEN Korea gained independence after the Second World War ended in 1945, the biggest challenge the people faced was poverty. This was one of the poorest countries in the world.

Lee Myung-bak, four years old at the time, lived with his family in a shanty. "There were many days I had to satisfy my hunger by filling myself with nothing but water." All day long he watched people fighting, heard children crying, and saw the sick dying. He realized poverty can crush a human being, even kill a human soul. That was Korea 60 years ago.

He worked hard. A shopkeeper lent him books; another gave him a job as a garbage collector. "Were it not for these people’s generosity, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college."

Education helped him escape poverty. "To my parents, being poor was never an excuse to deny their children the right to quality education. To this day, parents in Korea do not hesitate when investing in their children’s education. This is what made Korea."

To what end? Myung-bak got his education; in the ‘60s he was a student leader of demonstrations calling for the end of dictatorship. He endured prison for his pro-democracy activism.

Today, at age 70, Myung-bak is the 17^th president of South Korea. He was honored with the 2011 World Statesman Award by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in September at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier, founding president of the Appeal, and Paul A. Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman, made the presentation. A fellow Korean, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, added his greetings.

Of all the countries that gained independence following the Second World War, Myung-bak said, only Korea was able to transform from a recipient country to a donor country.

"A boy who once received aid from others is standing before you as the president of a country that is now able to give to others."

The Korean poverty stricken lad, who used education as the key to upward mobility, and made good as the leader of his people, vowed to help other people achieve similar success in their lives. "Too many of our young men and women are denied the opportunity to pursue their dreams," he said.

He proposed a solution called "eco-systemic development." He said it’s "a new vision for the future where we all strive towards a win-win society…where every member contributes and cooperates with one another…It is like in the natural world where there exists fierce competition also cooperation that benefits all parties. Such diversity is what achieves equilibrium and co-prosperity."