Kweon Seong-dong (Korean권성동, born 29 April 1960) is a South Korean lawyer and politician. A member of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), he has been the Member of Parliament for Gangneung since 2009.

Kweon Seong-dong
권성동
Kweon Seong-dong in 2012
Secretary-General of the People Power Party
In office
18 November 2021 – 5 January 2022
PresidentLee Jun-seok
Preceded byHan Ki-ho
Succeeded byKwon Yeong-se
Secretary-General of the Saenuri Party
In office
2 June 2016 – 23 June 2016
PresidentKim Hee-ok (interim)
Preceded byHwang Jin-ha
Hong Moon-pyo (acting)
Succeeded byPark Myung-jae
Member of the National Assembly
for Gangneung
Assumed office
29 October 2009
Preceded byChoi Wook-chul
Personal details
Born (1960-04-29) 29 April 1960 (age 64)
Gangneung, Gangwon Province, South Korea
Political partyPeople Power
Other political
affiliations
GNP (2009–2012)
Saenuri (2012–2016)
Bareun (2017)
Liberty Korea (2017–2020)
UFP (2020)
SpouseKim Jin-hee
Children2
ParentKweon Seung-ohk
Alma materChung-Ang University
OccupationLawyer, politician
Signature

Before entering politics, Kweon worked as a prosecutor and lawyer at various prosecution offices and the Ministry of Justice. He made his political debut at the 2009 Gangneung by-election which he won with about 51% of popular votes. He made himself known through his role at the 2016 political scandal, which let the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

Early life and education

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Kweon was born in Gangneung, Gangwon in 1960.[1] He is the eldest of the three sons and a daughter of a housewife and Kweon Seung-ohk (died in 2022), was an educator and the former Director of Gangneung Myeongryun Institution.[2][3][4] He attended Gangneung Myeongryun High School before joining Chung-Ang University, where he studied law.[1]

Career

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Although Kweon had ever joined anti-dictatorship movements in 1980, he rather prepared for a bar as he did not agree with "radical changes".[2] He was qualified for the bar in 1985.[1]

Shortly after completing national service, he began his prosecutor career at Suwon District Prosecutor's Office in March 1991, where he worked till transferred to Gangneung branch of Chuncheon District Public Prosecutors Office in September 1993.[1] He then moved to Seoul, where he worked at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the Ministry of Justice, Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Offices, and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, between 1994 and 2000, and again between 2003 and 2005.[1] His prosecutor career came to the end at Gwangju High Prosecutor's Office in 2006.[1] He then briefly worked as a lawyer at Sojong Partners.[1]

While he was working at the Ministry of Justice in 1999, Kweon made a draft of the National Human Rights Commission Act that was later submitted to the National Assembly.[2] The bill was, however, scrapped by the then ruling party, Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), who instead established the National Human Rights Commission based on the demand of left-leaning non-governmental organisations (NGO).[2] This made him to join politics.[2]

Politics

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In the 2008 election, Kweon made an unsuccessful attempt to contest for Gangneung under the Grand National Party (GNP) banner.[1][2]

On 8 April 2022, Kweon was elected parliamentary leader of the People Power Party, defeating Cho Hae-jin.[5][6][7][8]

General elections

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Year Constituency Political party Votes (%) Remarks
2009 Gangneung GNP 34,834 (50.90%) Won
2012 Gangneung Saenuri 57,444 (60.78%) Won
2016 Gangneung Saenuri 54,359 (57.15%) Won
2020 Gangneung Independent 49,618 (40.84%) Won

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "[Who Is ?] 권성동 자유한국당 의원". 13 January 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f 권성동. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ 권승옥 전 학교법인 강릉명륜학원 이사장 별세. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ [부고] 권성동 국민의힘 국회의원 부친상. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ^ 국민의힘 새 원내대표에 '윤핵관' 권성동 의원. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. ^ 국민의힘 원내대표에 '尹 최측근' 권성동… "협치에 더 힘 쏟겠다". 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  7. ^ [프로필] 권성동 국민의힘 신임 원내대표…당내 전략통. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  8. ^ 국민의힘 신임 원내대표 권성동 의원‥"야당과의 협치에 정력 쏟겠다". 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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