[FOCUS] Former human rights lawyer emerges as strong contender to become next president

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 13, 2017, 13:20 Updated : March 13, 2017, 14:06

[Photo by Namkung Jinwoong = timeid@ajunews.com]


Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, has been brought to the fore as the strongest candidate to become South Korea's next president after his conservative political rival and former president Park Geun-hye was expelled from office.

His approval rating now ranges between 29 to 36 percent, far ahead of any presidential hopefuls who may contend in a presidential election in early May. 

In a recent survey of voters, conducted by the Korea Research Center, Moon garnered about 30 percent, followed by South Chungcheong Governor Ahn Hee-jung with 17 percent. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who serves as acting head of state, stood third at 9.1 percent. Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party, a conservative opposition group, posted nine percent and 8.4 percent respectively.

Moon 64, was found to maintain substantial leads in all hypothetical races with his potential rivals as conservative voters remain split or undecided due to a corruption scandal sparked by Park's jailed crony, Choi Soon-sil.

Moon's rising popularity owes much to the scandal that fanned anti-government sentiment, although he used to have an ill-fated relationship with the authoritarian leadership of Park's late father, Park Chung-hee, a former general who seized power in a military coup in 1961.

Moon was born on January 24, 1953, in Geoje Island, as the first son of a peasant refugee who fled his hometown in North Korea. After his family settled in Busan, Moon majored in law at Seoul's Kyunghee University. He was arrested and expelled from the university for leading anti-government protests against Park's father.

Park's father, assassinated in 1979 by his intelligence chief, was credited with pioneering South Korea's rapid industrialization. At the same time, he was criticized for the brutal suppression of democracy under his 18-year rule.

Like other student protesters, Moon was drafted into the army at the time and passed the bar exam after his discharge. Despite his good academic record at a state-run judicial training center, he could not realize his dream of becoming a judge for campus activism. 

Inevitably, Moon, a Roman Catholic, shares his political philosophy with his lifetime comrade and former president Roh Moo-hyun because they worked together as liberal lawyers to take human rights cases involving students and labor activists.

Moon served as Roh's campaign manager during a presidential race in 2002 and chief presidential aide. He had been considered Roh's most trusted confidant until the ill-fated ex-president committed suicide by jumping from a mountain cliff behind his home in May 2009 following a humiliating probe by state prosecutors into alleged corruption involving his family.

The suicide prompted Moon to inherit Roh's political faction and begin his new life as a leading opposition politician who ran in a presidential race in 2012 only to lose against Park. Since Park took office in early 2013 as South Korea's first female president, Moon has bolstered his presidential bid with widespread support from young voters.

Moon portrays himself as a moderate and rational figure but opponents often likened him to Roh, who advocated cross-border reconciliation and anti-US nationalism at the expense of traditional ties with the United States, triggering a strong backlash from conservative groups including Park's.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
 
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