Anchor: The People Power Party(PPP) had an uphill battle in this campaign in the shadow of the December 3 martial law incident and impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. In this second installment in our series of biographical sketches for presidential candidates, we take a close look at the PPP’s Kim Moon-soo — a leading conservative voice in politics who started out as a labor activist in his youth.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo was born in 1951 in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, and was one of seven children in his family.

Kim is regarded as a key figure in the labor movement of the 1970s and ’80s.

Due to his labor activities, it wasn’t until 1994 that he graduated from Seoul National University, 24 years after enrolling in his first year.

During that period he was incarcerated twice, spending a total of two-and-a-half years behind bars for his activism.

Kim entered politics in 1990 as a founding member of the left-wing Popular Party before joining the conservative Democratic Liberal Party at the invitation of then-President Kim Young-sam.

Kim Moon-soo was elected to parliament for the first time in 1996 and went on to represent Sosa District in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

He retained his seat after the next two general elections but stepped down as a lawmaker in 2006 and became governor of Gyeonggi Province the same year, gaining reelection in 2010.

While serving as governor in 2012, he decided to run for president but lost out to Park Geun-hye in the Saenuri Party primary ahead of the 18th presidential election.

Kim Moon-soo was appointed head of the Economic, Social and Labor Council under the Yoon Suk Yeol government in September 2022 before being tapped as labor minister in August last year.

In the wake of the December 3 martial law incident, he emerged as the most popular conservative figure among those who had opposed Yoon’s impeachment.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.