Kim Young-choon

Kim Young-choon (, born 5 February 1962) is a South Korean former politician serving as the Secretary-General of the National Assembly from June 2020. He was previously President Moon Jae-in's first Minister of Oceans and Fisheries and a three-term parliamentarian. Prior to entering politics, he was an activist at Korea University, where he served as the president of its student union.

Education Kim Young-choon was educated at Sungji Primary School (1969–74), Busan Kaesong Secondary School (1975–77) and Busan East High School (1978–80). He enrolled for undergraduate studies in English language at Korea University as a top student in 1981.

Career Activist career In 1984, while attending at Korea University, Kim was elected the President of the Student Council. He defeated the former Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports Kim Do-hyun, He was elected to the National Assembly under the Grand National Party (GNP) banner at the 2000 election. He then joined the newly formed ruling Uri Party and was re-elected in 2004 election. On the other hand, he subsequently became critical to the Roh's government. For the presidential election in December he endorsed Moon Kook-hyun. In 2012 election, he unsuccessfully ran for Busanjin 1st constituency. He was confirmed as the NPAD candidate but abandoned his candidacy and endorsed the independent candidate Oh Keo-don in order to beat the ruling Saenuri's Suh Byung-soo. Oh, however, narrowly lost to the Saenuri candidate.

In the 2016 election, Kim was again selected as the MP candidate for Busanjin 1st constituency. At the beginning, he was not expected to win as he came behind to the Saenuri candidate Na Sung-lin. However, on the election day, he received approximately 49.6% and defeated Na with a majority of 2,853 votes.

Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young-choon with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India. On 30 May 2017, Kim was nominated the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries by the newly elected President Moon Jae-in.

On 17 June, the next day of his appointment, Kim visited Mokpo New Port for inspect the MV Sewol in order to recover uncollected bodies and settle unsolved issues. He met some bereaved families and promised to solve the problem as soon as possible. Kim praised the Government's decision and urged the cooperation between the Ministry and the Coast Guard. However, he confirmed he would not run, letting Oh Keo-don to be the governmental candidate.

On 8 May 2018, approximately a year later the inauguration of the President Moon, Kim was chosen as the best minister of the Government. A week later, the Ministry announced they would bring a plan to build marine solar plants.

Kim was replaced by Moon Seong-hyeok on 3 April 2019. Serving for a year and 9 months, he was the longest-serving Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

Prior to the 2020 election, Kim was again nominated as the Democratic candidate for Busanjin A constituency. Though he was neck-to-neck with the UFP candidate Suh Byung-soo, he led at early polls. He, however, lost to the former Busan Mayor.

In June 2020, he was appointed as the 33rd Secretary-General of the National Assembly responsible for its administration by the newly elected Speaker Park Byeong-seug.

2021 Busan mayoral election The resignation of the Mayor of Busan Oh Keo-don on 23 April 2020 following the allegations of sexual harassment has provoked the by-election in 2021. Since then, Kim has been considered again as the potential candidate of the Democratic Party. On 28 December, he officially resigned from the Secretary-General of the National Assembly; this was described by several media as "de facto confirmation to contest in the election."

On 12 January 2021, Kim officially launched his bid for Busan mayorship at Nameless Diary, a complex cultural space in Yeongdo. Firstly, he apologised for Oh's sexual harassment controversy as he came from the same party with the ex-Mayor.

Completing the new airport in Gadeokdo by 2029, in order to host Expo 2030 In a relation with the new airport: Developing an airport city Build a semi-high speed rail connected to the new airport Inviting international distribution companies i.e. Amazon, Alibaba, DHL and FedEx in West Busan

On 6 March 2021, Kim won Democratic preselection by obtaining 67.74%, defeating the former Deputy Mayor Byeon Sung-wan (25.12%) and the former Speaker of the Busan Metropolitan Council Park In-young (7.14%).

Nevertheless, various polls indicated that Kim came behind of the PPP candidate Park Hyung-joon.

The exit poll released shortly after the election on 7 April showed that Kim could only secure 33.0%, compared to Park who was expected to obtain 64.0%. He subsequently conceded his defeat, although the official result had not been announced yet. At 02:30 KST 8 April, the ballot counting was finished, and Kim received 528,135 votes (34.42%).

Retirement On 21 March 2022, Kim made an announcement to retire from politics on his Facebook. He also added that he would not contest for Busan mayorship at the June local elections.

Personal life Kang married to Shim Yeon-ok whom he met at university. During an interview, he revealed that she was a younger sister of his senior. Being in a relationship with her for 6 years, both finally married in 1988. He has a son named Kim Joon-hyun.

Electoral history General elections

Local elections Mayor of Busan Elections Year Constituency Political party Votes (%) Remarks 2021 By-election 2021 Busan(Mayoral Elections) Democratic 528,135 (34.42%) Lost