11 March 2008: No Time for Golf

The president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, says that if government staff have time to play golf they are not working hard enough.

Lee, a former construction boss, is widely known to start work at 7:30 am, and expects his staff to do the same. He says Government workers, including himself, are the people's servants, so should work harder than their masters, the people.

For the presidential staff there is no actual ban on playing golf, but the threat is clear. "When you're working hard there's never enough time, so it would be a feat to be playing golf," he says.