Losing Face

Less than a year ago, Roh Moo Hyun was the Howard Dean of South Korean politics, his grass-roots presidential-election campaign generating buzz on the Internet while attracting millions of young voters yearning for an incorruptible candidate. In one of the enduring images of the race, idealistic Roh supporters took to the streets to collect donations and hand out colorful piggy banks to individual voters. The message of the fund-raising drive was obvious: Roh would answer to the people, not to the big corporations that purchase influence through lavish campaign contributions. He won the election, in part by promising to close down...

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