Ahn Gyu-back (; born 29 April 1961) is a South Korean politician in the liberal

Minjoo Party of Korea The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK; ), formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), is a liberal political party in South Korea. Controlling the unicameral National Assembly as of 2022, the DPK is regarded as one of two maj ...

. He has been a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

for

Dongdaemun Heunginjimun, literally "Gate of Rising Benevolence" or more commonly known as Dongdaemun, is one of The Eight Gates of Seoul in the Fortress Wall of Seoul, a prominent landmark in central Seoul, South Korea. The Korean name "Dongdaemun" means "Gr ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, since 2012, and previously served as a

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

member from 2008 to 2012. Ahn was appointed deputy

floor leader In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature. Philippines In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...

of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the Minjoo Party's predecessor, on 12 October 2014, and remained in that position for seven months. He was praised by his

Saenuri Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Han ...

counterpart, Cho Hae-jin, who described him as having an "honest and upright" character and "always thinking of his country first". He subsequently became head of strategy and public relations for the NPAD on 23 June 2015. A ranking member of the Assembly's National Defense Committee, Ahn has been a critic of South Korea's defense policy. In 2011 he stated that draft-dodging had doubled under the

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

administration, and at the end of 2015 he attacked

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the fi ...

's government for signing an intelligence cooperation agreement with Japan and the United States, stating that "it is against all reason to give orea'sadvanced information" to Japan given its colonial history in the peninsula and continuing territorial claims over the

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

. In June 2015, he introduced a bill to honor the veterans of the

Second Battle of Yeonpyeong The Battle of Yeongpyeong (or Second Battle of Yeonpyeong) (Korean: 제2 연평해전, ''Je I(2) Yeonpyeong Haejeon'') was a confrontation at sea between North Korean and South Korean patrol boats along a disputed maritime boundary near Yeonpyeon ...

, an armed confrontation with North Korea that had taken place in 2002. Born in

Gochang County Gochang County (''Gochang-gun'') is a county in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is a rural area, and is home to only one institution of higher education: Gochang Polytechnic College. Notable people from Gochang include the 20th-century ...

North Jeolla North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

, Ahn attended high school in

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

, and studied Eastern philosophy at

Sungkyunkwan University Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU or simply ''Seongdae'', Hangul: 성균관대학교; Hanja: 成均館大學校) is a private comprehensive research university in South Korea. The institution traces its origins to the historic Sungkyunkwan, founde ...

as an undergraduate before earning a master's degree at the university's Department of Commerce and Trade.

Notes

References

1961 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) Minjoo Party of Korea politicians People from Gochang County Sungkyunkwan University alumni South Korean Buddhists {{SouthKorea-politician-stub