Newsweek said in its latest edition that the President, a former CEO of one of the largest companies in Korea, had helped the country weather the global recession better than any other developed country.

As a CEO in the early 1980s, Lee invested heavily in opening new markets while competitors cut down on investment in a recession, said the magazine.

Pushing through similar tactics as Korean President, he encouraged local companies in early 2009 to make aggressive investment in new fields and emphasized post‐crisis strategies, Newsweek said.

Thanks to the Lee government''s increased R&D spending, Korea''s GDP growth marked 3.2 percent by the third quarter of the same year, making the country the first one to emerge from the economic doldrums, according to Newsweek.

The magazine further said that the country''s mobile phone, LCD‐TV and automobile exporters had expanded their market shares during the financial crisis.