KOREA WHO
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Candidate for People Power Party Leader
Kim Moon-soo
Labor Activist Turned Conservative Candidate, Now Aiming for Party Leadership
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Last Updated on Aug 21, 2025
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Candidate for People Power Party Leader
Life Summary
Kim Moon-soo is a candidate for the People Power Party leadership.
He was born on August 27, 1951, in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, the third son among four sons and three daughters.
He graduated from Daegu Gyeongbuk High School and entered Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration, but was expelled due to the Mincheong Hakryeon (National Democratic Youth and Student League) incident. He eventually graduated in 1994, 25 years later.
While in college, he worked as a sewing machine worker at the Guro Industrial Complex in Seoul to participate in the labor movement. He served as union leader at the Hanil Dorco branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, during which he was taken to the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office in Seoul, tortured, and imprisoned at Seodaemun Detention Center.
In 1986, he was arrested and imprisoned for leading the campaign for constitutional reform to introduce direct presidential elections but was later released through a special pardon.
Arguing that “the era of revolution has passed,” he joined the New Korea Party (now the People Power Party). He was elected in the 15th general election as the lawmaker for Bucheon’s Sosa District, serving three consecutive terms in the National Assembly.
In the fourth nationwide local elections, he ran as the Grand National Party candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province and won, later securing re-election.
He entered the Saenuri Party’s presidential primary during the 18th presidential election but lost to candidate Park Geun-hye.
In the 2016 general election, he ran in Daegu’s Suseong District A, a conservative stronghold, but was defeated, and in the 2018 Seoul mayoral election, he also failed to win.
In 2020, he left the Liberty Korea Party (now the People Power Party), served as leader of the Liberty Unification Party, and later became co-leader of the Liberty Republican Party.
After the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, he was appointed chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council and later became Minister of Employment and Labor in 2024.
Following former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law on December 3, he quickly rose as an icon of the “pro-Yoon” faction, eventually becoming a presidential candidate.
However, he lost the 21st presidential election to Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who became president.
After the People Power Party lost power and became the opposition, he entered the party leadership race as a candidate for party leader.
#KimMoonsoo #PeoplePowerParty #SouthKoreaPolitics #LaborMovement #GyeonggiGovernor #NationalAssembly #PresidentialElection #LeeJaemyung #YoonSukyeol #ConservativeParty
He was born on August 27, 1951, in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, the third son among four sons and three daughters.
He graduated from Daegu Gyeongbuk High School and entered Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration, but was expelled due to the Mincheong Hakryeon (National Democratic Youth and Student League) incident. He eventually graduated in 1994, 25 years later.
While in college, he worked as a sewing machine worker at the Guro Industrial Complex in Seoul to participate in the labor movement. He served as union leader at the Hanil Dorco branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, during which he was taken to the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office in Seoul, tortured, and imprisoned at Seodaemun Detention Center.
In 1986, he was arrested and imprisoned for leading the campaign for constitutional reform to introduce direct presidential elections but was later released through a special pardon.
Arguing that “the era of revolution has passed,” he joined the New Korea Party (now the People Power Party). He was elected in the 15th general election as the lawmaker for Bucheon’s Sosa District, serving three consecutive terms in the National Assembly.
In the fourth nationwide local elections, he ran as the Grand National Party candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province and won, later securing re-election.
He entered the Saenuri Party’s presidential primary during the 18th presidential election but lost to candidate Park Geun-hye.
In the 2016 general election, he ran in Daegu’s Suseong District A, a conservative stronghold, but was defeated, and in the 2018 Seoul mayoral election, he also failed to win.
In 2020, he left the Liberty Korea Party (now the People Power Party), served as leader of the Liberty Unification Party, and later became co-leader of the Liberty Republican Party.
After the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, he was appointed chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council and later became Minister of Employment and Labor in 2024.
Following former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law on December 3, he quickly rose as an icon of the “pro-Yoon” faction, eventually becoming a presidential candidate.
However, he lost the 21st presidential election to Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who became president.
After the People Power Party lost power and became the opposition, he entered the party leadership race as a candidate for party leader.
#KimMoonsoo #PeoplePowerParty #SouthKoreaPolitics #LaborMovement #GyeonggiGovernor #NationalAssembly #PresidentialElection #LeeJaemyung #YoonSukyeol #ConservativeParty