Suh Byung-soo

Suh Byung-soo (born 9 January 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the Mayor of Busan from 2014 to 2018.

Suh Byung-soo was born in 1952, in the town of Daun, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang (now Daun-dong, Central District, Ulsan), to the son of Suh Seok-in (died in 2020), the founder of Woojin Service who had served as the Member of the Busan Metropolican Council from 1991 to 1995 and the Mayor of Haeundae from 1995 to 1998.

Then, he fled to the United States and received a doctorate in economics from Northern Illinois University in 1987.

Following the graduation, he briefly worked at Ford Motor Company before he returned to South Korea and continued his career at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials and Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

In 1990s, he was the CEO of Woojin Service, succeeding his father who had resigned in order to run for the 1991 local elections.

His mom died in February 1997.

He is the eldest among 4 sons and a daughter to the ex-Haeundae Mayor; he is the brother to Suh Ha-soo, Suh Hyun-soo and Suh Bum-soo.

Although he was born in Ulsan, he grew up in Yeongdo, Busan.

He went to 3 different schools — Yeongdo Primary School, Busan Secondary School and Kyungnam High School.

He later attended Sogang University and received a bachelor's and a master's degree in economics.

He served till the end of 1997, however, in 2000, some sources reported that he was still serving the position at that time.

This time, he was also an adjunct professor at Dong-Pusan College.

He succeeded the predecessor Shin Joong-bock, whose election was annulled for violating the election law in 1999.

He promised to attract both foreign and private capitals and make the district as a logistic hub for information and tourism.

Under his mayorship, he had successfully fixed hawker stalls at Hoan Road and built Moontan Road.

In the 2000 by-elections, Suh ran as the Grand National Party (GNP)'s nominee for the Mayor of Haeundae and was elected, defeating 2 independent candidates (the then-ruling Millennium Democratic Party aka MDP did not put a candidate).

He previously served as the Member of the National Assembly for Haeundae-Gijang 1st constituency from 2002 to 2014 and the Mayor of Haeundae from 2000 to 2002.

He resigned on 7 February 2002 in order to run for the MP for Haeundae-Gijang 1st constituency at the by-election called due to the death of Sohn Tae-in.

He won with 27,961 votes, defeating the MDP candidate Choi In-ho.

In the 2004 election, he again contested with Choi In-ho who ran under the Uri Party banner in this time.

Despite coming behind in exit polls, he successfully beat his rival.

Shortly after the re-election in 2008, he served as the Chairman of the Strategy and Finance Committee, for this time, he suggested an amendment of the Tax Law and Bank of Korea Act, including tax reduction.

In 2010, he was elected as a Vice President of the GNP.

In the 2012 election, Suh contested under the Saenuri banner and defeated the DFP-UFP unity candidate, Goh Chang-kwon, with a majority of 18,705 votes.

He was a potential candidate for the Saenuri parliamentary leader, but some media suggested he could be "nominated" the position under the interim President Park Geun-hye.

Known as the "Nominee List", on 25 April, he finally declared to not seek for the position.

On 21 May, under the new President Hwang Woo-yea, he was appointed the party's Secretary-General.

As the Secretary-General, he contributed its presidential candidate Park Geun-hye to be elected to the position in December.

A member of the conservative People Power Party, Suh was elected the Mayor of Busan on 4 June 2014, defeating the independent candidate Oh Keo-don.

On 26 February 2014, Suh officially launched his bid for Busan mayorship at Daehang Saebaji Harbour, Gadeok Island.

Following are the manifestos included in his declaration:

He contested with the former Sasang MP and the ex-ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyun and the then North-Gangseo MP Park Min-shik at the Saenuri preselection.

On 3 April, he relinquished his parliamentary membership in order to focus on his campaign.

On 30 April, he gained 36.9% and defeated 2 ex-MPs.

Though he led at the beginning, he was expected to lose after the NPAD candidate Kim Young-choon abandoned his campaign and endorsed the independent candidate Oh Keo-don, the former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries who had ever been run for 2 times before.

On 4 June, he narrowly beat the former Oceans and Fisheries Minister by a margin of approximately 2%.

Suh was sworn into office on 1 July 2014, approximately a month after the election.

He promised "Citizens First" policies and the "Nakdong River Era".

Prior to the inauguration, he put a slogan "Happy Citizens, Healthy Busan".

In 2018, he ran for re-election but lost to Oh, who ran under the Democratic banner.