Moon Jae-in

Profile Overview

Moon Jae-in (Korean: 문재인, pronounced [mun.dʑɛ.in] ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), he was the party's leader from 2015 to 2016, and represented Sasang in the National Assembly from 2012 to 2016. Moon previously served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the chief of staff to President Roh Moo-hyun.
Born in Geoje to North Korean refugees, Moon was raised in poverty in Busan. He excelled in school and studied law at Kyung Hee University. He became a lawyer and was involved in human rights activism with Roh Moo-hyun. He was imprisoned for organizing a protest against the Yushin Constitution. As a result of his work in human rights law, Moon was chosen to be Roh's campaign manager in the 2002 presidential election. He served in Roh's administration in various official capacities. In 2012, Moon was a candidate for the Democratic United Party in the 2012 presidential election, which he lost to Park Geun-hye.
In the 2017 presidential election, Moon was elected president as the Democratic Party of Korea candidate after Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed from office. As president, Moon received international attention for his meetings with North Korean leader 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 U.S. president Donald Trump at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). During his presidency, Moon favored the Sunshine Policy, a peaceful approach to Korean reunification. On economic policy, he favored reform of chaebols (conglomerates), raised the minimum wage by more than 16%, and lowered the maximum workweek from 68 to 52 hours. Moon received praise domestically and internationally for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. His party won a historic victory in the 2020 South Korean legislative election. However, his party lost the next presidential election, making him the first president since South Korea's democratization in 1987 to transfer power to the opposition after a single term. He left office in May 2022, succeeded by his former prosecutor general, Yoon Suk Yeol.