Who is Kim Dae-ho? From Student Activism and the Democratic Party to Conservatism... Also Claims "The Ssangyong Motor Reinstatement Ruling is Wrong"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] On the 8th, Kim Dae-ho, the Seoul Gwanak-gap candidate who was expelled by the United Future Party, emerged as an issue in the final stages of the general election. Attention is also drawn to his unusual background. He was once part of the progressive camp and previously ran for a National Assembly seat as a member of the Democratic Party. He worked at Daewoo Motors and publicly expressed criticism of the ruling on the reinstatement of Ssangyong Motor laid-off workers.

According to the registration data from the Central Election Commission on that day, candidate Kim, born in 1963, graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering. In the 1980s, he received a 2-year prison sentence with a 3-year probation for violating laws related to assemblies and demonstrations, and a 1-year prison sentence with a 2-year probation for forgery of private documents. He was also exempted from military service due to his imprisonment.

He is known to have been involved in labor movements following student activism. In 1995, he joined Daewoo Motors and worked there until 2004. In 2006, he founded the 'Social Design Institute,' a think tank representing the progressive camp, and in 2012, he ran as a preliminary candidate for Gwanak-gap under the Democratic Party. According to his website, at that time he said, "I thirst with a burning desire. Please pour oil so that the flame of hope can blaze brightly."

Afterwards, he criticized figures from the activist circles and showed conservative tendencies. In 2014, through a media contribution titled "'The ruling on the reinstatement of Ssangyong Motor laid-off workers is wrong,'" he stated, "As someone deeply connected to the automobile industry and who has long observed Ssangyong Motor's struggle for survival, I too was incredulous. And I shed tears of blood from my heart. It was not out of joy. It was because the 'short-sightedness' combined with the judge's warm heart would cause a ripple effect of real social victims and the blood tears of youth."

He continued, "I want to call Judge Cho's ruling 'long violence of short thinking.' It focuses only on the human rights of 20% of people inside the fortress who have enjoyed working conditions far superior to the labor market level, where 'dismissal is murder,' and completely ignores the human rights of 80% outside the fortress for whom 'dismissal is painful but merely an opportunity for career change,' a strange sense of justice in our society."

Last year, candidate Kim served as the standing executive committee chairman of the think tank 'Platform Liberty and Republic,' founded by conservatives and centrists. He later received the nomination from the United Future Party but was ultimately expelled.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.