During a recent visit to South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the country's president Lee Myung-bak (pictured) wondered why Korea couldn't make products like Nintendo.

"A lot of our elementary school children have Nintendo game machines," the president informed senior policymakers, "Why can't our companies develop products like that?"

Nintendo recently announced that the DS has reached two million in sales in South Korea.

It's not like major South Korean corporations haven't tried to make portable or console hardware. They just haven't been as successful at home or abroad due to a lack of game software support.

PC gaming, however, has been incredibly successful for South Korean companies, making the president's remarks all the more peculiar.

"I don't think government officials have a good understanding of the realities of the country's IT industry," said an official from a local Internet company. "You don't have the right to be daydreaming about Nintendo, when Korean online game firms, which are actually doing well overseas, feel they could do better if the government wasn't biting at their ankles." Zing!

Industry Sarcastic To Lee's Nintendo Comment [The Korea Times via GamePolitics] [Pic]