Yang Hyang-ja (; born 4 April 1967) is a South Korean politician and former

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

executive. She has represented

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 ...

at 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 ...

since 2020. A former member 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 ...

, she founded the

Hope of Korea Hope of Korea (, HoK) was a political party in South Korea. The Party focused on scientific politics, technocracy, and pragmatism. The party was established by Parliamentarian Yang Hyang-ja on 28 July 2023. On July 15, 2021, Yang was expelled ...

party in 2023. Yang previously served as the president of the National Human Resource Management Institute (NHI) within the Ministry of Personnel Management under President

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

from 2018 to 2019. She was the first woman to lead the Institute since the position was founded in the 1960s.

Samsung Electronics

After graduating from Gwangju Girls' Commercial High School, Yang went to

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

at the age of 18 ( or 19 in Korea) as an assistant to

semiconductor memory Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a sili ...

researchers at the company. Since then she had worked for the company's departments related to memory semi-conductors for over three decades. In 2014 she was promoted to the executive for its flash memory development becoming its first female executive without higher education, from

Honam Honam (; literally "south of the lake") is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. Today, the term refers to Gwangju, South Jeolla and North Jeolla Provinces. The name "Jeonla-do" is used in the names of th ...

region and one-year earlier than her co-workers. Yang completed tertiary education while working at Samsung. She earned a bachelor's degree from now-Cyber University of Korea, which was co-founded by Samsung in 2000, in 2005 and masters from

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 ...

, which has close partnerships with Samsung, in 2008.

Political career

Yang was recruited by then-party leader

in late 2015. She resigned from Samsung in December 2015 for her political career which began in 2016 when she officially became member of

and later nominee for

constituency at the 2016 general election. After losing her election, Yang continued her commitment to politics. She was one of five elected members of Supreme Council of party for two years before resigning for the president of the NHI in August 2018. After serving as the first woman president of the NHI for a year, she resigned for the upcoming 2020 election. In 2020 general election, Yang defeated six-term parliamentarian

Chun Jung-bae Chun Jung-bae (; born 12 December 1954) is a South Korean politician who was the joint chairman of the People's Party, alongside Ahn Cheol-soo. He is a member of the National Assembly for Seo District in Gwangju since 2015, having previously r ...

becoming the only woman representing a district in

region. She is expected to join her party's Supreme Council again as she is the only woman running for this post and at least one woman should be elected. In August 2020 she re-joined the Supreme Council receiving fifth most votes. In September newly elected leader of her party,

Lee Nak-yon Lee Nak-yon (; born 20 December 1952), also known as Lee Nak-yeon, is a South Korean politician who served as the 41st Prime Minister of South Korea from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Party of Korea, he is the longest-serving prime ...

, appointed Yang and Han Jeoung-ae as the co-deputy chair of party's K-New Deal Committee led by party floor leader

Kim Tae-nyeon Kim Tae-nyeon (Korean: 김태년, born 20 March 1965) is a South Korean politician and former activist who previously served as the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). He was the acting President of the party from 9 Ma ...

. From September she also chairs party's task force for economy and people's livelihood. On 15 July 2021, Yang was expelled from the Democratic Party for her handling of sexual misconduct in her office. A female employee of Yang's regional office in Gwangju complained of sexual harassment by Yang's cousin, who also worked at the office. Yang then inflicted second punishment by

gaslighting Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as manipulating someone so as to make them question their own reality. The term derives from the title of the 1944 American film ''Gaslight'', which was based on the 1938 British theatre play ''Gas ...

the victim, ignoring the complaints, and denying the situation in interviews. In June 2023, Yang introduced the launch of her own political party,

. Yang has urged the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to abandon its global

semiconductor industry The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconduct ...

policies.

Electoral history

Published works

Yang's biography, ''Fly Towards Dream Beyond Dream, Hyang-ja''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Hyang-ja 1967 births Sungkyunkwan University alumni People from Gwangju People from Hwasun County Living people Democratic Party of Korea politicians New Reform Party (South Korea) politicians Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) South Korean government officials South Korean women in business South Korean women engineers Female members of the National Assembly (South Korea)