Park Heong-joon (Korean: 박형준; Hanja: 朴亨埈; born 19 January 1960) is a South Korean journalist, educator and politician. He was a former professor of the Sociology Department and Graduate School of International Studies at Dong-a University from 1 September 1991 to 12 March 2021.
He has been the Mayor of Busan since 8 April 2021. He was elected to the position in the by-election a day before that was provoked following the resignation of Oh Keo-don due to the allegations of sexual harassment. He successfully defeated the Democratic candidate Kim Young-choon with a large margin.
Park Heong-joon was born in Choryang-dong, East District, Busan, in 1960.[1] His father was a doctor, whom he described as "an iron hand in a velvet glove".[2] Little is known of his early family life, as he prefers to not talk about it.[2]
Park was educated at Daeil High School and Korea University.[3] While studying sociology at Korea University in 1980, he worked as an editor of the school magazine titled KU Culture (고대문화),[4] as well as joining anti-government protests.[2] During a protest on 13 May,[4] he ran away from the venue after he found the riot police firing tear gas, which later hit the wall of Plaza Hotel.[2][4] One of the shrapnels soon attacked his right eye and he was soon collapsed in the road.[2] Not only his legs were burnt, his right eye was also injured till being unable to see properly[4][5][6] regardless of wearing spectacles, in which he was later exempted from the national service.[2] He then continued postgraduate studies and following the graduation, he was hired at JoongAng Ilbo in 1983 and worked for 2 years.[2][3][4]
From 1995, he hosted important television debates in Busan.[4] He was an emcee for the debate for the 1997 and the 2002 presidential elections.[4] He also organised civic movements in Busan, such as establishing Forum New Thinking, Cultural City — Busan Creation Network[11] and Movement for Decentralisation of Busan.[4]
Park joined the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) instead of the de facto ruling Uri Party.[4][7] Despite public criticism, he later revealed that the reason was to not just "rebuild" the GNP[4] but also run under the GNP banner was more likely to win in right-leaning Busan.[7] However, from what Sisa Journal reported was that he could not trust the leadership of the then President Roh Moo-hyun.[4] He was nominated the GNP candidate for Suyeong in the 2004 election and competed against the ruling candidate Huh Jin-ho. Though he came behind to Huh at early polls,[12][13][14] he was elected to the National Assembly.[4][6][15]
On 26 August 2006, while he was a member of the Culture and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly, several sources reported that Park, along with Kim Jae-hong, an MP of the Uri Party, had visited an arcade game exhibition held in Los Angeles, United States from 13 to 15 September 2005, using the money from game industry associations.[16][17] Amid criticisms, he said that it was an official visit suggested by the committee.[17] On 5 September, the Uri Party sued both Park and Kim to the Ethics Committee.[18] On 13 December, he was summoned by the prosecution for receiving 100 million won (£63,000) from the CEO of Andamiro and a gift voucher association.[19][20] However, he was cleared of wrongdoing on 23 February 2007.[21]
During the 2007 presidential election, Park was one of the key figures helping the GNP presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak to be elected the country's President. Prior to the GNP presidential primary, he chose Lee instead of Park Geun-hye or Sohn Hak-kyu (quit the GNP before the primary) as he perceived that Lee is a "individualistic conservative" compared to Park who is a "nationalistic conservative".[7] He also emphasised that South Korea needs a good Machiavellist, which could be acquired via Lee.[7] Serving as the Spokesman to Lee,[22] he accused the Blue House's decision to sue Lee.[23] In the election on 19 December, Lee was officially elected the President of the Republic.[24]
Despite his contributions, Park failed to get re-elected in the 2008 election.[25][26][27] During the election, he contested against a pro-Park Geun-hye independent candidate Yoo Jae-jung.[26][25] At first, he was widely expected to get re-elected.[26] However, amid anti-campaigns from the Parksamo (a fan club to Park Geun-hye),[26] he only received 27,940 votes (41.96%), compared to Yoo who had received 36,577 votes (54.93%).[28] In this election, another pro-Lee Myung-bak figures i.e. Lee Jae-oh, Lee Bang-ho and Kim Hee-jung, also lost.[25][27]
In the 2012 election, Park was set to contest under the banner of the then ruling Saenuri (successor of the GNP) banner.[32] This time, he faced a challenge from Yoo, who had already returned to the GNP (then Saenuri) following his election in 2008, at the preselection.[32] The party, however, suddenly changed the preselection methods, which was strongly objected by Park.[32] Park subsequently left the party and contested as an independent candidate.[33][34] He received 24,630 votes (29.59%) and was again defeated by Yoo.[35]
Post-political career
On 1 September 2014, Park was appointed the new Secretary-General of the National Assembly.[36] On 4 December 2015, he announced he would not contest for Suyeong in the 2016 election.[37] His term as the Secretary-General of the National Assembly ended on 21 June 2016.[38]
On 9 January 2020, Park was appointed the Chairman of the Advance Committee for Innovation and Unity, an organisation seeking the unity of centrist and conservative parties including the then Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the New Conservative Party (NCP).[42][43] As a result, major conservative parties including both the LKP and the NCP was merged into the newly formed United Future Party (UFP).[44]
On 9 March, prior to the 2020 election, Park applied to nominate himself as a candidate for the Future Korea Party (FKP), the satellite party to the UFP.[45][46] He, however, retracted the decision within 2 hours following the public backlash of his decision.[45][46] He later apologised for the issue.[45][46]
In the general election, the UFP-FKP alliance only secured 103 out of 300 seats, the worst result as a major conservative party since 1988.[47] The party president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who contested for Jongno, was also defeated by the former Prime MinisterLee Nak-yon.[48] Park cited that the party lost about 30 seats due to hate speeches and defamatory remarks of its several candidates.[49] The party renamed itself to the People Power Party (PPP).[50][51]
On 29 October, Park officially rejoined the PPP, the same day when the former President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to 17 years in jail.[52][53]
The resignation of the Mayor of BusanOh Keo-don on 23 April 2020 following the allegations of sexual harassment has provoked the by-election in 2021.[54][55]
Prior to the election, Park was considered one of the potential candidate of the UFP (then PPP), along with an ex-MP Lee Un-ju, the former Mayor Suh Byung-soo, the former Dongnae Mayor Lee Jin-bok and so on.[56][52][53][1] On 31 August, The Kookje Daily News had reported that Park was considering to run for the election.[57]
On 15 December, Park officially launched his bid for Busan mayorship at Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Centre.[58][59] Following are the manifestos included in his declaration:[58][59]
On 4 March 2021, Park won PPP preselection with obtaining 54.40%, defeating the former Deputy Mayor of Busan Park Seong-hun and the former MP for Gwangmyeong 2nd constituency Lee Un-ju.[60][61]
On 12 March 2021, Park posted on his Facebook that he has quit as a professor of Dong-a University that he had been working from 1 September 1991.[75][76] He indicated that he would permanently quit as a scholar but become as a full-time politician.[75][76] Nevertheless, on 25 March, The Hankyoreh reported that his withdrawal from Dong-a University was shortly after he opened courses for a new semester.[77] According to the newspaper, Park had opened 2 courses (1 for postgraduate and 1 other for doctorate) in February and the course selection period was from 15 to 25 February, while he was contesting PPP preselection for Busan mayorship.[77] As the first class was on 4 March, the same day he was officially nominated as the candidate, the lecturer-in-charge for the doctorate course was immediately replaced to another person while the postgraduate course was abolished.[77] This movement provoked a public uproar; one professor whom he used to work together with Park condemned that "the students' rights to learn were trampled".[77] On the other hand, Park's election campaign revealed that Park has already resigned on 28 February, but there were some issues with the resignation letter, and could only be submitted on 2 March (accepted a week later).[77] They also indicated that the postgraduate course was abolished due to the lack of students.[77]
The exit poll released shortly after the election on 7 April showed that Park was expected to obtain 64.0%, while the Democratic candidate Kim Young-choon could only receive 33.0%.[78][79] He expressed his gratitude to his supporters after he was confirmed to be elected.[80] At 02:30 KST 8 April, the ballot counting was finished, and Park received 961,576 votes (62.67%).[81]
Mayor of Busan
Park took the oath of office at 11:00 KST 8 April 2021 after he received a certificate of election from the Busan Metropolitan City Election Commission.[82] His first term ended on 30 June 2022 as he was elected in a by-election; he served the remaining term of Oh Keo-don.[82] He was re-elected in the 8th local elections,[83] and will serve his second term as mayor until 30 June 2026.
Inauguration
Park paid a visit to Chungnyeolsa at 8:30 KST 8 April, and then subsequently headed to the City Election Commission, where he received a certificate of election.[84] His inauguration ceremony at the Busan Metropolitan City Hall was proceeded with an online format[85] due to the social distancing measurement Tier 2 in order to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.[84]
Political orientation
Formerly a left-wingMarxist,[2][4][7][86] Park's political stance has been moved to centre-right.[87][88] In 2007, he also declared himself as a "centre-right".[7] During the administration of Lee Myung-bak, he set the government's stance as centrist pragmatism.[89]
Park married Cho Hyun, a businesswoman who has been operating Cho Hyun Gallery (World Gallery before 2008) since 1990.[91][92] Her mother died in 2009.[93] Both has a son and a daughter.[29][94] On 17 March 2021, he revealed through his Facebook that Cho Hyun is his second wife.[95]JoongAng Ilbo reported 2 days later that Cho has already been having a daughter and a son with her ex-husband, and then remarried Park in December 1999.[96]
