Moon Jae-in

Moon Jae-in
GOM
문재인
Moon in 2019
12th President of South Korea
In office
10 May 2017 – 10 May 2022
Prime MinisterYoo Il-ho (acting)
Lee Nak-yon
Chung Sye-kyun
Hong Nam-ki (acting)
Kim Boo-kyum
Preceded byPark Geun-hye
Hwang Kyo-ahn (acting)
Succeeded byYoon Suk Yeol
2nd Leader of the Democratic Party
In office
9 February 2015 – 27 January 2016
Preceded byMoon Hee-sang (interim)
Succeeded byKim Chong-in (interim)
Member of the National Assembly
In office
30 May 2012 – 29 May 2016
Preceded byChang Je-won
Succeeded byChang Je-won
ConstituencySasang (Busan)
Chief of Staff to the President
In office
12 March 2007 – 25 February 2008
PresidentRoh Moo-hyun
Preceded byLee Byung-wan
Succeeded byYu Woo-ik
Personal details
Born (1953-01-24) 24 January 1953
Geoje, South Korea
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Kim Jung-sook
(m. 1981)
Children2
Parent(s)Moon Yong-hyung (father)
Kang Han-ok (mother)
Alma materKyung Hee University (LLB)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • civil servant
  • lawyer
Signature
Websitemoonjaein.com
19president.pa.go.kr
19report.president.pa.go.kr
Military service
AllegianceSouth Korea
Branch/serviceRepublic of Korea Army
Years of service1975–1978
RankSergeant
UnitArmy Special Warfare Command
Battles/warsOperation Paul Bunyan[a][1]
Korean name
Hangul
문재인
Hanja
文在寅
RRMun Jaein
MRMun Chaein
IPA[mun.dʑɛ.in]

Moon Jae-in[b] (born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the chief of staff to President Roh Moo-hyun,[2] a member of the National Assembly, and the Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Born to North Korean refugees, Moon was raised in poverty in Busan.[3] He excelled in school and studied law at Kyung Hee University. He became a lawyer and was involved in human rights activism with Roh Moo-hyun. He was imprisoned for organizing a protest against the Yushin Constitution. As a result of his work in human rights law, Moon was chosen to be Roh's campaign manager in the 2002 presidential election.[4] He served in Roh's administration in various official capacities. In 2012, Moon was a candidate for the Democratic United Party in the 2012 presidential election, which he lost to Park Geun-hye.

In the 2017 presidential election, Moon was elected president as the Democratic Party of Korea candidate after Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed from office.[5][6] As president, Moon received international attention for his meetings with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un at inter-Korean summits in April, May, and September 2018, making him the third South Korean president to meet their North Korean counterpart. On June 30, 2019, he met with both Kim and US president Donald Trump at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). During his presidency, Moon favored the Sunshine Policy, a peaceful approach to Korean reunification.[7] On economic policy, he favored reform of chaebols (conglomerates),[8] raised the minimum wage by more than 16%,[9] and lowered the maximum workweek from 68 to 52 hours.[10] During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, Moon received praise domestically and internationally.[11] His party won a historic victory in the 2020 South Korean legislative election.[12] However, his party lost the next presidential election, making him the first president since South Korea's democratization in 1987 to transfer power to the opposition after a single term. He left office in May 2022, succeeded by his former prosecutor general, Yoon Suk Yeol.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ 문 대통령 "미루나무 작전 참여" 발언 중 '참여'에 눈길 가는 이유. news.joins.com (in Korean). December 2017.
  2. ^ "Moon Jae-in: Who is South Korea's new president?". BBC News. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference KoreaTimes-20170509 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ UnMyeong (destiny). Seoul: Moon Jae In. 2011. pp. 196~205. ISBN 978-89-7777-188-8.
  5. ^ "Moon Jae-in Elected as 19th President...Promises to Undertake Reform and National Reconciliation". The Hankyoreh. Archived from the original on 18 July 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Moon Jae-in Sworn in as 19th S. Korean President". KBS World Radio. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  7. ^ Fifield, Anna (2 May 2017). "South Korea's likely next president asks the U.S. to respect its democracy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Economist 21734036 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference MK 2018-03-30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Haas, Benjamin (28 February 2018). "South Korea cuts 'inhumanely long' 68-hour working week". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  11. ^ Firedhoff, Karl (1 April 2020). "President Moon Jae-In Handled the Coronavirus Well, but Can He Win South Korea's April Elections?". The National Interest. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  12. ^ "S. Korean ruling party wins landslide election on strength of virus response". France24. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.