Moon Jae-in's Path to the Presidency

Anchor: Democratic Party's Moon Jae-in has claimed victory in South Korea's presidential election. 
Our Kim In-kyung has more on the liberal party politician's path to the presidency and his pledges.
 
Report: Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party is the son of impoverished North Korean refugees who came to the South during the Korean War. He took the bar exam hoping to become a judge, but those dreams were thwarted due to his involvement in student activism.
 
Rejecting offers from major law firms, he returned to his hometown of Busan where he became a human rights lawyer. There, he met fellow human rights lawyer Roh Moo-hyun who later became the president of South Korea.
 
Moon served as Roh's campaign manager during his presidential bid and later as his presidential chief of staff. He planned to withdraw from politics after Roh's term ended. However, he remained in the spotlight to defend the former president who was accused of receiving illicit political funds during his tenure.
 
He emerged as a leader of the liberal voice after Roh's untimely death. He ran in the 2012 presidential election, but lost to Park Geun-hye. His party's defeat in the subsequent general election and solid support for the ruling party appeared to forestall a Moon presidency. But he reemerged as a presidential frontrunner as Park's corruption scandal unfolded.
 
During his election campaign, Moon promised to reexamine South Korea's decision to deploy the U.S. antimissile system THAAD if he becomes president. He also pledged to work on completely dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear program and possibly meet with the North's leader.
 
On the economic front, Moon vowed to create 810-thousand jobs in the public sector. He promised another 200-thousand jobs in the private sector by shortening work hours. Also in his plans are chaebol restructuring, raising the effective corporate tax rate and increasing the minimum wage.
 
In an answer to increasing calls for cleaner air, he promised to end any new construction of coal-fired power plants and proposed to make the fine dust issue a major topic at summit meetings with Beijing. 
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.