Few people are happier to see 2012 end than Hu Jintao, Yoshihiko Noda or Lee Myung Bak. It was a rocky year for the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, who leave office with legacies in tatters.
Gripes about President Hu doing little about China’s biggest challenges outnumbered the accolades. Noda’s premiership ended as ingloriously as those of the other five leaders Japan has had in the past six years. Lee’s time as president will be remembered for South Korea’s widening rich-poor divide and North Korea’s march toward nuclear-missile capability. Tensions over tiny islands meant East Asia’s three biggest economies barely spoke to one another.
looking beyond borders 