Moon Jae-in

Some Lesser Known Facts About Moon Jae-in

• He was born in Geoje, South Korea.

• He was the first son among five children of his parents.

• His father, Moon Yong-hyung was a refugee from South Hamgyeong Province (presently in North Korea) who settled in Geoje as a laborer.

• Moon’s family finally settled in Busan, where he attended the high school.

• During his studies in Kyunghee University, he was arrested and expelled from the university for organizing a student protest against the Yushin Constitution.

• Later, he was commissioned in the South Korean Military and became a part of a military mission during the Axe murder incident.

• He stood 2nd in the Bar Exam. However, he was not allowed to become a judge/government prosecutor as he had been involved in the activities against the dictatorship as a student. So, he chose to become a lawyer instead.

• As a lawyer, he worked with future President Roh Moo-hyun and became a close friend of him. He remained his friend until Roh’s suicide in 2009.

• He took a number of cases involving civil rights issues and human rights. He became a member of Minbyun and later, served as the Chairman of Human Rights at Busan Bar.

• In 1988, he became a founding member of the South Korean newspaper “The Hankyoreh.” 

• After Roh’s suicide in 2009, many liberals in Korea found Moon to be a suitable candidate against Park Geun-hye (a candidate of the conservative Saenuri Party).

• Despite being indifferent to politics, he started to get involved in it.

• In 2011, he published a memoir- Moon Jae-in: The Destiny, which became a bestseller.

  

• Despite his rising popularity among the people of Korea, he lost the 2012 Presidential Election.

• On 2 February, he was elected as the leader of “New Politics Alliance for Democracy.”

• He contested the 2017 Presidential Elections and on 10 May 2017, he won the election by winning 41.1% votes (with 13,423,800 votes).

• On 10 May 2017, after official votes were counted, he was sworn in as the 12th President of South Korea.

• After being elected as the President of South Korea, he delivered a statement in which he favored a peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.
• In April 2020, Moon Jae-in-led ruling party registered a landslide victory in national assembly elections, in what was seen as an endorsement of President Moon Jae-in’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.