Cho Myung-chul

Cho Myung-chul (; born 2 April 1959) is a South Korean politician who has served as the nominal governor of South Pyeongan Province since 15 July 2022. A North Korean defector and former professor at Kim Il Sung University, he has held several political positions in South Korea pertaining to Korean reunification and inter-Korean dialogue. In 2012, he became the first North Korean defector to be elected to the South Korean National Assembly. He served as a representative of the proportional representation constituency from the Saenuri Party (later the Liberty Korea Party) until the end of his tenure in 2016.

Life in North Korea and China Cho Myung-chul was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 2 April 1959. He was the second of three brothers. His father was a politician who served as the country's minister of construction and his mother was a professor at the . Cho studied at Kim Il Sung University from September 1983 to October 1987, graduating with an associate doctoral degree. He was appointed to teach at the university's department of economics immediately after his graduation. In August 1992, Cho was given the opportunity to teach at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, for a two-year exchange program. He later described his experience living in China as "positive" in comparison to his "negative" life in North Korea, and this contrast ultimately led to his decision to defect as the end of the exchange drew near.

On 18 July 1994, Cho defected to South Korea via a flight from Hong Kong. Cho claims that the North Korean government's response to his defection was "muted", with minor attempts at making it appear as though Cho had returned to North Korea. According to Cho, a paper was published under his name after he defected, and rumours were spread that he had been involved in a traffic accident while teaching in China.

Political career Cho was elected to the South Korean National Assembly in the 2012 legislative election, representing the proportional representation constituency as a member of the Saenuri Party, later known as the Liberty Korea Party. This marked the first time that a North Korean defector had been elected to the legislature. During his tenure, Cho focused on improving the lives of North Korean defectors in South Korea and promoting Korean reunification. He also sharply criticized the rule of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un.