SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Fifty-six year-old Roh Moo-hyun is from the same political party as 77 year-old outgoing president Kim Dae-jung.

CNN: Roh ringing in the changes

The combination of the Asian financial crisis in the spring of 1997 and the election as president of Kim Dae Jung, the long-serving opposition leader, in December that year appeared to spell the end for the unreconstructed chaebol.

ECONOMIST: South Korea dumps the past, at last