Moon Jae-in

Moon Jae-in (born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean retired politician who served as the 12th (19th election) president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022.

Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs and Chief of Staff to President Roh Moo-hyun, Member of the National Assembly, and Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Born to North Korean refugees, Moon was raised in poverty in the southern port city of Busan.

He excelled in school and studied law at Kyung Hee University.

He became a lawyer and later involved in human rights activism with Roh Moo-hyun.

He was imprisoned for organizing a protest against the Yushin Constitution.

Moon Jae-in was born in Geoje, South Korea, on January 24, 1953, shortly before the end of the Korean War, as the second child and oldest son among five children of father Moon Yong-hyung and mother Kang Han-ok.

His parents were refugees from South Hamgyong Province, North Korea who fled their native city of Hungnam in the Hungnam evacuation during the Korean War.

His father worked as head of agriculture department who detains food, especially rice of Korean colonial people as one of the main tasks at the Heungnam, Hamju, South Hamgyong Province.

His family eventually settled in Busan.

Since his father did not want to become a government employee as he had been in North Korea, his father started a business selling socks, which left his family in great debt.

His mother became the main earner by selling clothes received from relief organizations and delivering briquettes.

Moon's family became attached to the Catholic Church when his mother went to the local cathedral to receive whole milk powder.

Moon once said in an interview that he did not know how to ride a bike since his family was too poor to afford a bike or a monthly school tuition.

Moon entered Kyungnam High School and reportedly placed at the top of his class.

He was accepted to study law at Kyung Hee University with a full scholarship.

At university, he met his future wife, Kim Jung-sook.

After organizing a student protest against the Yushin Constitution, he was arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and expelled from the university.

Later, he was conscripted into the military and assigned to the 1st Special Forces Brigade, where he participated in "Operation Paul Bunyan" during the axe murder incident in Panmunjom.

After his honorable discharge, the death of his father motivated him to study for the bar exam.

He stayed at the Buddhist temple of Daeheungsa to study for the exam and passed the first of two rounds in 1979.

In 1980, he returned to Kyung Hee University to complete the remainder of his studies.

Later that year, he passed the second round of the bar exam and was admitted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

He graduated from the Institute ranked second in his class but was not appointed a judge or prosecutor due to his history of student activism against the Yushin dictatorship under Park Chung Hee.

Moon then chose to go into private practice instead.

After becoming a lawyer, he worked under future president Roh Moo-hyun in the 1980s.

Along with Roh, he took cases involving the labor rights issues and became renowned for his work in labor human rights.

He was a founding member of the progressive South Korean newspaper, The Hankyoreh, in 1988.

Yielding to Roh's insistence, Moon became Roh's campaign manager during his presidential bid.

After Roh's victory, Moon became Roh's close aide holding various roles in a presidential administration.

As a result of his work in human rights law, Moon was chosen to be the campaign manager for his longtime mentor Roh Moo-hyun in his successful bid for the 2002 presidential election.

He served in Roh's administration in various official capacities.

Moon held roles as Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs, Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Society and Chief Presidential Secretary from 2003 to 2008.

In 2012, Moon was a candidate for the Democratic United Party in the 2012 presidential election, in which he lost narrowly to Park Geun-hye in which Park was aided by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

During the 2017 presidential election, Moon was elected president as the Democratic Party of Korea candidate following the impeachment of Park Geun-hye and her subsequent removal.

As president, Moon has achieved 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 Donald Trump, then-president of the United States, at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Moon favors the Sunshine Policy, a peaceful Korean reunification.

On economic policy, he favors reform of chaebols (conglomerates), has raised the minimum wage by more than 16 percent, and lowered the maximum workweek from 68 to 52 hours.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, Moon has received praise domestically and internationally, and helped his party win a historic victory in the 2020 South Korean legislative election.