Lee Jae-myung, Hope of Korea’s Ordinary People: His Life and Political Journey
2025년 02월 01일
1. Poor Childhood: a boy worker Industrial Life Without Going to School
Lee Jae-myung was born in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province in 1963. His family had to live in extreme poverty, which greatly affected his life. When he entered middle school, he couldn’t attend school due to financial difficulties, so he couldn’t attend school and ended up working as a boy worker. During this period, he was responsible for earning a living by working more than 12 hours a day at a factory.
His first job was a necklace factory that handled hydrochloric acid and brass, and his second job was a factory that soldered boric acid, but when the boss ran away at night, he took his salary off. In the third factory, a piece of rubber got stuck in his finger. While wandering around various factories, he got caught in a press machine at an glove factory and fractured the outer part of his left wrist, but at the time, he thought there was no problem and did not receive full-fledged treatment. Eventually, he was later declared a level 6 disability due to the accident and was exempted from military service. He is a disabled person.
This experience gave him a deep insight into “how important is educational opportunity.” Afterwards, he was able to complete his high school education through a GED, and enter the law department of Chung-Ang University on a four-year scholarship.
2. Tough Family History: Growth Amid Poverty and Conflict
Lee Jae-myung’s family history is another factor that greatly influenced his life. His parents had to raise their children amid poverty and conflict. In particular, his father fell into gambling and caused many problems at home, and his mother endured it and tried to protect it.
Lee Jae-myung had to take care of his family from an early age. He had to prioritize his livelihood over studying. This environment instilled in him the ‘importance of family’ and a ‘responsibility for the socially disadvantaged’.
At the time, Lee’s family made it possible only with scholarships and support for school expenses, even though they were not interested in going to college. At that time, the factory salary was around 80,000 won, but he was supposed to receive a monthly exemption of 200,000 won as well as admission fees and tuition fees. He went on to college wearing the school uniform that his mother bought him. But his college uniform had already disappeared in the mid-1970s, before Lee entered college. His family said that they thought college students wore uniforms. Recalling the time, he said, “It was rather nice because I couldn’t go to middle and high school.” So, he said, “I stayed still when my mother bought me a school uniform. I didn’t check if I knew, but I still knew. Anyway, he was the only one who wore a school uniform on the day of admission. I made my third brother, Lee Jae-sun, who was working at the factory at the time, take the college entrance examination. He persuaded his brother and family and offered to distribute the monthly allowance at Chung-Ang University. After that, he decided to become a certified public accountant by receiving 50,000 won per month from Lee Jae-myung and four years of tuition and living subsidies from him. # As you can see, Lee Jae-sun is eventually in debt to Lee Jae-myung. Judging from his negative comments about Lee Jae-myung later, Lee Jae-myung seems to have been stabbed in the back by his brother, who helped him by splitting his allowance.
3. How You Got Into Politics: Social Responsibility As A Lawyer
After graduating from Chung-Ang University’s law school, Lee Jae-myung works as a lawyer and becomes interested in social issues in earnest. As a lawyer, he tried to realize social justice by providing free legal counseling for the socially disadvantaged, such as workers, the poor, and the disabled.
In 2004, an incident occurred in which Lee Jae-myung became famous in earnest. At the time of the Seongnam City Hospital establishment movement, Seongnam citizens made an ordinance issued by residents for the first time in Korea with 18,595 signatures aimed at establishing a public medical center [31]. #Lee Jae-myung said that the deliberation itself was rejected, but according to the minutes of the Seongnam City Council’s Autonomous Administration Committee at the time of deliberation on the ordinance, after two hours of discussion, it was decided to review the Local Autonomy Act, the Local Public Enterprises Act (whether to review the feasibility, etc.) and various medical conditions again after a comprehensive review
After the suspension of deliberation was declared, as one of the representatives of the residents at the time, he protested in the assembly with Seongnam citizens, and was arrested along with about 30 residents and sentenced to obstruction of execution of special public affairs and damage to public goods. At that time, Lee Jae-myung’s expression of crying as if he were angry was very intense, making headlines.
After serving as a lawyer in Seongnam City, he joined the Uri Party around the 2006 local elections and ran as a candidate for Seongnam Mayor with a single nomination. The result was defeated by the former mayor, Grand National Party candidate Lee Dae-yeop [33].
Later, he applied for a nomination in the Jungwon-gu constituency of Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do as a candidate for the United Democratic Party in the 18th National Assembly election in 2008, but was eliminated by Cho Sung-joon in the primary, and instead ran in the Gap constituency in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si with a strategic nomination, but was defeated by Goheung-gil of the Grand National Party, an incumbent second-term lawmaker in the district.
In the June 2 local election in 2010, he ran for mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, as a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected with 51.2 percent of the vote. In the June 4 local election in 2014, he won re-election with 55.1 percent of the vote. Even Bundang-gu, a strong conservative party compared to Gangnam-gu in Seoul, showed the potential to win because it is a rich neighborhood.
4. Why do ordinary Koreans support Lee Jae-myung?
Lee Jae-myung’s life is not much different from ordinary people in Korea. During his poor childhood, he worked as a boy worker and went through qualification examinations and universities to continue his studies. He also instilled a sense of responsibility for the socially underprivileged through family history, and he has practiced these values as a lawyer and politician.
Lee Jae-myung’s past experiences have created his political philosophy, so the common people of Korea sincerely support him. He is not just a politician, but a “hope” who understands the lives of the common people and represents their voices.
Lee Jae-myung’s life is a drama in itself. Having never given up despite poverty and adversity, he is now drawing attention as the next presidential candidate to lead the future of the Republic of Korea. Through his childhood experiences, family history, and innovation policies when he was mayor of Seongnam, we can see why he is supported by ordinary people.
Next, let’s talk about the policies he implemented while serving as mayor of Seongnam.
