Kim So-yeon (; born 23 January 1970) is a labor activist in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and currently on the executive committee of ''Creating a World Without a Temporary Worker'' ().

Education

* Graduated from Seoul Jeonghwa Girls' Commercial High School.

Biography

* 1987: Led the struggle for increasing accessibility to private schools in Seoul while she was attending Jeonghwa Girl's Commercial High School. * 1997: Served as chairperson of the Eucalyptus Electronics Union. * 2001: Sentenced to ten years in prison with two years probation for violating the National Security Act during the Seoul Democratic Labor Convention. * 5 July 2005: Named as

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), literally translated as National Democratic Confederation of Trade Unions, also known as Minju-nochong ( ko, 민주노총; acronym for ''KCTU'' in Korean language) is a national trade union centr ...

Chairperson for the newly formed Metal Union Seoul Branch, Metal Union Southern Regional Branch, and Metal Union Kiryung Electronics Branch. * 24 August – 17 October 2005: Insisted to Kiryung Electronics that workers were illegally laid-off, withdrawing the union contract. For 55 days, part of the production line for Kiryung Electronics Factory was occupied for 16 members of the company via an all-night

vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' ( Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become gener ...

. * 17 October 2005: Detained on suspicion of interrupting business. * 24 August – 22 September 2006: Kiryung Electronics underwent a 30-day

Hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

, demanding the return of illegally laid-off workers. * 11 June – 12 September 2008: Kiryung Electronics underwent a 94-day hunger strike, demanding the return of illegally laid-off workers. * August 2010: Kiryung Electronics requires regulation of illegally laid-off workers, embracing a high concentration of foreigners. * 1 November 2010: After a negotiation period of 1,895 days, Kiryung Electronics finally reaches a new full-time employment agreement with the KCTU. * June - November 2011: Worked on the Hope Bus Planning Team of the 2010-11 Hanjin Heavy Industries strike. * 2012: First served as a network executive for ''Creating a World Without a Temporary Worker'' (). * 11 November 2012: Elected as the presidential candidate for workers by the election headquarters of ''Creating a World Without a Temporary Worker''. Also ran as an independent for the

2012 South Korean Presidential Election Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2012. They were the sixth presidential elections since democratization and the establishment of the Sixth Republic, and were held under a first-past-the-post system, in which there ...

, along with Park Jong-sun, Kang Ji-won, and Kim Soon-ja. 2012 18th Presidential election
''KBS World'' * 15 December 2012: After completing a campaign stop at

Gwanghwamun Plaza Gwanghwamun Plaza (, also known as Gwanghwamun Square) is a public open space on Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The plaza was opened on 1 August 2009 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and is part of the City's plans for environmenta ...

in Seoul, Kim and 300 supporters clashed with police while marching towards the

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

. * 19 December 2012: Finished in 5th place in the 18th Presidential Election of South Korea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, So-yeon 1970 births Living people Politicians from Seoul South Korean presidential candidates, 2012 Korean trade unionists South Korean human rights activists 21st-century South Korean women politicians 21st-century South Korean politicians