KOREA WHO
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former leader of the People Power Party
Han Dong-hoon
From Yoon’s Heir to Anti-Yoon Challenger in Busan [2026]
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Last Updated on May 22, 2026
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former leader of the People Power Party
Life Summary
Han Dong-hoon is a former leader of the People Power Party.
He was born on April 9, 1973, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.
He graduated from Hyundai High School in Seoul and Seoul National University College of Law.
After completing an LLM program at Columbia Law School in the United States, he obtained a license to practice law in New York State.
He passed the 37th bar exam and completed the 27th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute before beginning his career as a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
During the Moon Jae-in administration, he served as the third deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office under then-Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office chief Yoon Suk Yeol, investigating corruption in the Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak governments. After Yoon Suk Yeol was appointed prosecutor general, Han was promoted to chief prosecutor and led the investigation into the family of Cho Kuk, the minister of justice, as head of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, formerly the Central Investigation Department.
After serving as deputy chief prosecutor of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office, research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, and deputy director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, he became the first minister of justice under the Yoon Suk Yeol government.
He entered politics as chair of the People Power Party’s emergency response committee and led the party in the April 2024 general elections, but suffered a crushing defeat.
Three months later, he ran in the party convention and was elected party leader despite coming from outside the National Assembly. In December 2024, when the National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol and the party leadership collapsed, he stepped down as party leader.
He was once called a “minor president” as one of President Yoon’s closest aides, but after serving as People Power Party leader, he became a symbolic figure of the “non-Yoon” camp. In February 2025, he resumed political activities by publishing the book “Han Dong-hoon’s Choice — The People Come First.”
After former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached, Han ran in the 21st presidential election, but lost to former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo in the People Power Party primary and failed to advance to the general election.
In January 2026, he was expelled from the People Power Party over the so-called “party member bulletin board case.”
He ran as an independent in the by-election for the National Assembly seat in Buk-gu A, Busan, held together with the June 3, 2026, local elections.
#HanDonghoon #PeoplePowerParty #YoonSukYeol #SouthKoreaPolitics #JusticeMinister #PresidentialElection #NationalAssembly #BusanByElection #KoreanProsecutors #ConservativePolitics
He was born on April 9, 1973, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.
He graduated from Hyundai High School in Seoul and Seoul National University College of Law.
After completing an LLM program at Columbia Law School in the United States, he obtained a license to practice law in New York State.
He passed the 37th bar exam and completed the 27th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute before beginning his career as a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
During the Moon Jae-in administration, he served as the third deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office under then-Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office chief Yoon Suk Yeol, investigating corruption in the Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak governments. After Yoon Suk Yeol was appointed prosecutor general, Han was promoted to chief prosecutor and led the investigation into the family of Cho Kuk, the minister of justice, as head of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, formerly the Central Investigation Department.
After serving as deputy chief prosecutor of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office, research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, and deputy director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, he became the first minister of justice under the Yoon Suk Yeol government.
He entered politics as chair of the People Power Party’s emergency response committee and led the party in the April 2024 general elections, but suffered a crushing defeat.
Three months later, he ran in the party convention and was elected party leader despite coming from outside the National Assembly. In December 2024, when the National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol and the party leadership collapsed, he stepped down as party leader.
He was once called a “minor president” as one of President Yoon’s closest aides, but after serving as People Power Party leader, he became a symbolic figure of the “non-Yoon” camp. In February 2025, he resumed political activities by publishing the book “Han Dong-hoon’s Choice — The People Come First.”
After former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached, Han ran in the 21st presidential election, but lost to former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo in the People Power Party primary and failed to advance to the general election.
In January 2026, he was expelled from the People Power Party over the so-called “party member bulletin board case.”
He ran as an independent in the by-election for the National Assembly seat in Buk-gu A, Busan, held together with the June 3, 2026, local elections.
#HanDonghoon #PeoplePowerParty #YoonSukYeol #SouthKoreaPolitics #JusticeMinister #PresidentialElection #NationalAssembly #BusanByElection #KoreanProsecutors #ConservativePolitics