Park Wan-su (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 박완수;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 朴完洙; born 10 August 1955) is a South Korean politician serving as the

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 rep ...

for

Changwon Changwon () is the capital city of Gyeongsangnam-do, on the southeast coast of South Korea. With a population of 1.07 million , Changwon is South Korea's ninth-most populous city. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south ...

Uichang since 2016. He was also the Secretary-General of the

United Future Party The People Power Party (; PPP), formerly known as the United Future Party (; UFP), is a conservative political party in South Korea. Controlling the South Korean presidency, it is the second largest party in the National Assembly. PPP, alon ...

(UFP) in 2020. Prior to his parliamentary career, Park served as the Mayor of

Hapcheon Hapcheon County (''Hapcheon-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Located in northwestern Gyeongsangnam-do, the county is surrounded by Changnyeong as well as Euiryeong to the Southeast, Geochang as well as Sancheong-gun ...

from 1994 to 1995 and of

from 2004 to 2014. He served as the President of the

Incheon International Airport Corporation Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) was established in 1991 to operate the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting ...

from 2014 to 2015.

Early life and education

Park was born in

Tongyeong Tongyeong () is a coastal city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. In 2010, it had an area of and a population of 139,869 people. It is divided into 1 eup (town), 6 myeon (township) and 11 dong (neighborhood). Chungmu city and Tongyeong cou ...

on 10 August 1955. As a son of a poor peasant, he barely graduated from primary school and was unable to continue his secondary education. He has an elder brother and 3 elder sister. After graduated from Masan Technical High School, Park used to work at Dongkyung Electronics. He then attended to

Korea National Open University Korea National Open University (KNOU, ko, 한국방송통신대학교) is a national university of South Korea. The school provides higher education including undergraduate, graduate and non-degree programs as well as distance-learning courses ...

and

Kyungnam University Kyungnam University (경남대학교; 慶南大學校) is a private university in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The university has six colleges (Liberal Arts, Natural Sciences, Education, Economics and Commerce, Law and Politi ...

Political career

Park served as the Mayor of

from 1994 to 1995. When

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

s were applied for all mayorships in 1995, he then became the last indirect Mayor. In 2002, he ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate for

mayorship but lost to Bae Han-sung. After Bae's election was nullified in 2004, he joined the

Grand National 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 Hanna ...

and was elected. He was then re-elected in 2006 and again in 2010. He also became the first Mayor of the united Changwon, after the city was merged with

Masan Masan is an administrative region of Changwon, a city in the South Gyeongsang Province. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae. Masan was redistricted as two district ...

and

Jinhae Jinhae-gu (Hangul: 진해구, Hanja: 鎭海區) is a district in Changwon City, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring. The city front is on a shelter ...

. Following the resignation of

Kim Doo-kwan Kim Doo-kwan ( ko, 김두관, RR: ''Gim Du-gwan'', Hanja: 金斗官; born 10 April 1959) is a South Korean Democratic United Party politician, former civil servant, and former governor of South Gyeongsang Province. He was elected governor in th ...

prior to the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: E ...

, Park contested

Saenuri The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism ma ...

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the

South Gyeongsang South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World ...

governorship but lost to

Hong Jun-pyo Hong Joon-pyo (born 20 November 1953), also spelled as Hong Jun-pyo, is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who is the current Mayor of Daegu. He previous served as the governor of South Gyeongsang Province, a member of the Nationa ...

. In 2014, he quitted from the Mayor of Changwon and again contested Saenuri preselection, but was also defeated to Hong. During this time, he harshly criticised Hong with issues regarding Jinju Medical Centre. Park was appointed as the President of the

in October 2014 but resigned after a year in order to run for 2016 election. He was selected as the Saenuri candidate for Changwon Uichang and defeated Kim Ki-woon of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. On 2 December 2019, Park was appointed as the Secretary-General of the

Liberty Korea 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 Hanna ...

. After the party was merged into the

, he was re-appointed Secretary-General. On 22 April 2022, Park won PPP

for South Gyeongsang Governorship.

Election results

General elections

Local elections

Mayor of Changwon

References

External links

Park Wan-su
on

Blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

Park Wan-su
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Wan-su 1955 births Living people Mayors of places in South Korea People from Tongyeong People Power Party (South Korea) politicians Governors of South Gyeongsang Province Kyungnam University alumni