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Lee Jae-myung

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This article is about the politician. For the footballer, see Lee Jae-myung (footballer).
In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.
Lee Jae-myung
이재명
李在明
File:Lee Jae-myung gubernatorial portrait (cropped).jpg
Official portrait, 2020
35th Governor of Gyeonggi Province
Assumed office
July 1, 2018
Preceded byNam Kyung-pil
Mayor of Seongnam
In office
July 1, 2010 – March 15, 2018
Preceded byLee Dae-yup
Succeeded byEun Su-mi
Personal details
Born (1964-12-22) December 22, 1964 (age 59)
Andong, North Gyeongsang, South Korea
CitizenshipSouth Korean
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Kim Hye-kyung
​
(m. 1991)​
ChildrenLee Dong-ho (son)
Lee Yoon-ho (son)
Alma materChung-Ang University (LLB)
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLawyer
Lee Jae-myung
Hangul
이재명
Hanja
李在明
Revised RomanizationI Jaemyeong
McCune–ReischauerYi Chaemyŏng

Lee Jae-myung (Korean: 이재명; Hanja: 李在明; born 22 December 1964[1]) is a South Korean politician and attorney who has been serving as Governor of Gyeonggi Province since 2018. Prior to this, he served as Mayor of Seongnam, the tenth largest city in South Korea, from 2010 to 2018. He is a member of the centre-liberal Democratic Party.

Early life

Born in Andong, Lee studied law at Chung-Ang University, and went on to work in that field before his entry into politics.[1]

Political career

Mayor of Seongnam

As Mayor of Seongnam, he gained recognition for creating Seongnam's social welfare program, widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive social welfare programs in the nation for the city's elderly citizens and youth.[2] In addition, he is noted for his decision to ban dogmeat from the famous Moran Market, which had been the largest dogmeat market in South Korea since 1960.[3][4][5] While serving as Mayor, Lee ran unsuccessfully for President in the 2017 presidential election.[6] Considered one of the three most important potential candidates in the run-up to the election,[7] Lee received third place in the Democratic primary behind former party chair and National Assembly member (and eventual winner) Moon Jae-in and Ahn Hee-jung, the Governor of South Chungcheong Province. As a result of his left-wing populist views, he has been compared to American politician Bernie Sanders.[8][9]

Governor of Gyeonggi Province

File:Lee Jae-myung wearing a protective mask (210506).png
Lee wearing a protective mask in May, 2021

Following his loss in the presidential election, Lee ran for Governor of Gyeonggi Province, which encompasses much of the Seoul Capital Area. Following his election, he faced legal issues stemming from an alleged violation of campaign rules that put his governorship into question.[10] Lee has received acclaim for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic as Governor and is considered a top candidate in the 2022 South Korean presidential election.[11]

His special order for all foreigners working in Gyeonggi Province to be tested for COVID-19 was criticized by diplomatic envoys[12] and non-Korean residents for being discriminatory.[13] Seoul also announced similar policies but changed them to recommendation - practically withdrew them - after facing criticism. Nonetheless, Lee's special order went on mandating its 340 thousands foreign workers to get tested - resulted in finding 329 new positive cases among them.[14][15]

Controversies

Lee is accused of orchestrating a political stunt around "Moratorium announcement." Shortly after his inauguration as the mayor of Seongnam, Lee announced a moratorium or delay of debt payment originated from developing its Pangyo Techno Valley. By the end of his first term in 2014, he announced that the city is no longer in moratorium which brought a nationwide attentions. Unlike his argument, the city was never in position of being forced to repay the debt immediately or in the near future meaning declaring moratorium was not necessary. Moreover, the most of the debt was largely covered by significant increase of approximately 2.5 times in its Municipal bond.[16][17]

"Unanswered Questions," a famous investigative journalism television programme run by Seoul Broadcasting System, aired an episode questioning the links between the local Mafia organisation in Seongnam city and Lee and Eun Su-mi, current mayor of the city.[18]

Lee was accused of giving up "Happiness," the dog he adopted during his time as a mayor of the city, when moving into his new-residency as Gyeonggi provincial governor leaving the dog to Seongnam city hall. Lee explained that the dog was adopted by the city not by an individual and later re-adopted to a new family.[19][20]

In 2014 Gachon University cancelled his master's degree citing the plagiarism. When explaining this during his presidential nominee campaign in 2016, he degraded the university which resides in Seongnam by citing it as "the university (no one) knows its name."[21][22]

During the 2018 gubernatorial election, he received scrutiny following the confirmation of a long-rumored affair with actress Kim Boo-sun.[23]

In July 2020 the Supreme Court found Lee not guilty of breaching the campaign law during television debate for Gyeonggi provincial governor.[24] However, the Court and its lower courts found Lee attempting to admit his brother to a psychiatric hospital true but Lee was not indicted for this. Citing the freedom of expression and maximum respect to free, active discussions during political campaigns, the Supreme Court did not find Lee "actively" distorting the fact - and therefore not breaching the campaign law - when he said no to the question asked about attempting to admit his brother to a mental hospital by a opposition candidate in a televised debate. Lee was represented by several lawyers including two former Supreme Court justices.[25][26][27]

In February 2021, a year after the first Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting was held to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, it was revealed that Lee only participated in its three of this meetings despite being virtual and critical given that Gyeonggi Province and Seoul account for majority of positive cases in the country. This was well below 68.5 the averaged number of CDSCH meetings Lee's fellow heads of provinces and metropolitan cities joined.[28] In response to the criticisms rising from this, Lee said in April 2021 that he used his time effectively in addressing more critical issues and an hour of Gyeonggi provincial governor is 13.8 million hours (just like its population). Chung Sye-kyun who recently resign from Prime Minister for his presidential campaign publicly shared his frustration that Lee would not have made such statement if he is well aware of government's efforts in contaminating the virus and vaccinating the public.[29][30]

Prosecution's investigation

On December 11, 2018, the prosecution indicted Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who was suspected of circulating false information under the Public Official Election Act of the Republic of Korea. His wife Kim Hye-kyung was not indicted, citing a lack of evidence. Two days before the expiration of the statute of limitations on the seventh election, the case against the couple was closed. After the police concluded that they believed the account belonged to Lee's spouse Kim, the case was transferred to and later struck down by the prosecution, citing a lack of evidence.[31][32]

The real name of his corresponding Twitter account (08_hkkim) is "For Justice." Rep. Jeon Hae-chul sued the account, claiming it was run by Lee Jae-myung's wife during the party's primary for the Gyeeonggi governor's race. The initials are the same as Kim Hye-kyung, and various other personal information matched, raising suspicions that she was the person in question. Hyegyeonggung Kim is also nicknamed for this reason.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b "이재명". Daum Encyclopedia. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  2. ^ "이재명표 복지정책 빛났다…'공공서비스 대상' 받아 - 아시아경제". 11 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  3. ^ "모란시장에서 개고기 사라진다 - 다음뉴스". 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Actress admits to affair with Lee Jae-myung". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Mature actress defends her troubled mother". 11 June 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Split voting could boost fate of People's Party". Korea JoongAng Daily. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  7. ^ "이재명 명실상부 대권주자 '빅3'… 국민의당 지지율↓-리얼미터". 8 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  8. ^ Chandran, Nyshka (2016-12-13). "Lee Jae-myung, South Korea's Bernie Sanders, to benefit from anti-establishment sentiment". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  9. ^ "Lee Jae-myung: Populist, Left-wing, Unapologetic". KOREA EXPOSÉ. 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  10. ^ Herald, The Korea (2019-11-19). "14 mayors, governors file petition to save Lee Jae-myung's governorship". www.koreaherald.com. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  11. ^ "Gov. Lee, chief prosecutor in close race in presidential hopefuls poll". Yonhap News Agency. 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  12. ^ "S.Korea rights panel probes whether mandated COVID-19 tests for foreigners is discriminatory". Thomson Reuters Foundation News. 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  13. ^ "Foreign residents call mandatory COVID-19 testing 'discrimination'". Korea Times. 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  14. ^ "[News Focus] Foreign workers still face COVID-19 tests outside Seoul". The Korea Herald. 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  15. ^ "경기도, 외국인 코로나19 전수검사했더니…329명 확진". 연합뉴스TV (in Korean). 2021-03-24. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  16. ^ "경기 성남시 모라토리엄 공방의 진실". monthly.chosun.com (in Korean). 2014-03-18. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  17. ^ "애초에 존재하지 않았던 '성남 모라토리엄' (2)". 다음뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  18. ^ "'그것이 알고싶다' 은수미 성남시장·이재명 경기도지사 조폭 연루설 대해부 '충격'". hankyung.com (in Korean). 2018-07-22. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  19. ^ 수정 2018.10.09 09:48, 입력 2018 10 09 00:27 (2018-10-09). "이재명 성남시장 당시 입양했던 유기견 파양 논란". 중앙일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "파양됐던 성남시 '행복이', 새 반려인 만났다". www.hani.co.kr (in Korean). 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  21. ^ "가천대 표절 학위 취소된 이재명 시장...'이름도 모르는 대학' 막말". www.mediawatch.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  22. ^ 머니투데이 (2016-12-11). "이재명 시장, '이름도 모르는 대학' 발언..가천대 학생들 반발 - 머니투데이". news.mt.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  23. ^ "Actress admits to affair with Lee Jae-myung". koreajoongangdaily.joins.com. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  24. ^ "결국 살아남은 이재명... 대법, '형 강제입원' 무죄 취지 판결". 르몽드디플로마티크 (in Korean). 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  25. ^ 수정 2020.07.16 17:55, 입력 2020 07 16 17:29 (2020-07-16). "이재명 형 강제입원 지시 맞지만, 처벌은 불가능하다는 대법". 중앙일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ ""전관예우 뿌리 뽑자더니…" 이재명 호화 변호인단 구성 논란". hankyung.com (in Korean). 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  27. ^ "이재명 지사, 무죄 판결 이유는?". 리걸타임즈 (in Korean). 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  28. ^ "[단독] 중대본 회의 343번 열릴 때 이재명 세 번 참석했다". 한국일보 (in Korean). 2021-02-23. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  29. ^ "이재명 "경기지사 1시간은 1,380만시간" 정세균 정조준…묘해진 與대선구도". 서울경제 (in Korean). 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  30. ^ "이재명 "중대본 회의 결석? 1380만 경기도민 위해 시간 썼다"". www.hani.co.kr (in Korean). 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  31. ^ "경찰 "'혜경궁 김씨'는 이재명 부인 김혜경씨"…수사결과 확인". www.hani.co.kr (in Korean). 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  32. ^ 최해민 (2018-12-11). "검찰, 왜 유독 '혜경궁 김씨'만 경찰 기소의견 뒤집었나?". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  33. ^ http://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=161245
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Seongnam
2010–2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Gyeonggi Province
2018–present 		Incumbent
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