Lee Jae-myung

Lee Jae-myung (이재명; born 22 December 1964) is a South Korean politician serving as a member of the National Assembly and the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Lee was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2022 South Korean presidential election.

Lee was born on 22 December 1964 in Andong, the fifth of seven children.

According to his first-grade report card, he was quite stubborn and his grades were normal, but he played well with his classmates and was courageous.

Lee has stated that he could not go to school on rainy or snowy days because the school was about 5 km away from his house and he had to cross a stream in the middle.

Lee grew up in poverty, and as a result of his family's lack of funds, he would frequently forgo social activities and relied on the generosity of school faculty to attend field trips.

He has cited fishing along the creek with his friends as being one of his favorite pastimes.

When Lee graduated from elementary school, the South Korean public school system did not give free education for middle and high school.

His father spent most of the family's money on gambling, and Lee's family left Andong to find work.

Lee's family moved to Seongnam, an industrial planned city built during the administration of Park Chung Hee to concentrate industry outside of Seoul.

Seongnam was mostly populated by poor people, who were often coerced to move there by the government.

Like other children from poor families, Lee worked in a handmade necklace factory instead of attending middle school.

After the necklace factory went bankrupt, he moved to a company called Dongma Rubber.

Lee at this time was not old enough to legally work in South Korea, so he worked under various pseudonyms.

Lee injured his finger at Dongma Rubber.

After the accident, Lee left Dongma Rubber and worked for Daeyang Industry.

In a second workplace injury, an industrial press crushed his wrist joint.

The injury was untreated and caused a disability in his arm.

Later, he was exempted from military service.

He is a contemporary registered disabled person.

While working at Daeyang Industry, Lee saw a group of students wearing school uniforms and he developed a desire to attend university.

He enrolled in classes to pass the exams.

He passed the high school entrance examination and earned a middle school diploma in 1978.

Two years later in 1980, he passed the university entrance examination and obtained a high school diploma.

Lee's personal experience with crushing poverty inspired his political philosophy of 'Eokgang Buyak', which aims to curb the privileges and excesses of the powerful and support the poorest segments of society.

Based on his entrance examination scores, Lee was accepted into Chung-Ang University's College of Law on a scholarship.

Lee earned middle and high school equivalency diplomas and studied at Chung-Ang University, earning his law degree in 1986.

As a human rights and labour lawyer, Lee organized with Minbyun and advocated for opening a new hospital in Seongnam.

In 1986, upon graduating from college, he passed the bar exam and entered the Judicial Research and Training Institute for two years in order to join the bar.

Lee opposed the authoritarian regime of Chun Doo-hwan.

Lee originally intended to become a judge or prosecutor for the prestige and pay, but he was inspired by a lecture from Roh Moo-hyun to become a human rights and labour lawyer, like Roh and Moon Jae-in.

He set up his practice in Seongnam.

Lee entered politics in 2005 and unsuccessfully contested a few elections.

He was elected Mayor of Seongnam in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.

He was the 35th Governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2018 to 2021.

Born to a poor family in Andong, Lee became a factory worker after primary school and became disabled due to workplace injuries.

He resigned in 2018 for a successful run for Governor of Gyeonggi Province.

Lee ran for president in 2022, winning the party nomination, but narrowly losing to Yoon Suk Yeol in the general election.

Afterwards, Lee was elected to the National Assembly, and became the leader of the Democratic Party.

In January 2024, he survived being stabbed in the neck during an assassination attempt in Busan while he was campaigning for the 2024 legislative elections.