Sim Sang-jung (born 20 February 1959) is a South Korean politician and labor rights activist. She was one of the five major presidential candidates in the

2017 South Korean presidential election Early presidential elections were held in South Korea on 9 May 2017 following the impeachment and removal of Park Geun-hye. The elections were conducted in a single round, on a first-past-the-post basis, and had originally been scheduled for 2 ...

, running as the Justice Party's nominee. She again ran as the Justice Party's nominee in the

2022 South Korean presidential election Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 9 March 2022. Under the South Korean constitution, presidents are restricted to a single five-year term, meaning that incumbent president Moon Jae-in was ineligible to run for a second term. ...

, finishing in 3rd place. She is currently a member of the 21st

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 r ...

. She was the leader of the Justice Party from 2015 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020.

Education and early career

Sim obtained her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in education from

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three " ...

. She switched degrees from history, with the aspiration to become a history teacher. At the age of 21, she worked at a

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ott ...

factory where her days as a

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights infl ...

activist began. Sim was subsequently fired for mobilizing workers to demand higher wages and better meals. She "hopped from job to job" to earn a wage but continued her labor activism. In 1985, she was on the country's

most wanted list A most wanted list is a list of criminals and alleged criminals who are believed to be at large and are identified as a law enforcement agency's highest priority for capture. The list can alert the public to be watchful, and generates publicity ...

for instigating labor strikes. She was on the list for 9 years, and married her husband, a fellow activist, during that time. She was formally charged for 'instigation of mass harm' and 'instigation of arson', and was sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment, but a 2-year suspended sentence, soon after she became pregnant.

Political career

Sim was first elected in 2004 in the 17th National Assembly as a member of the Democratic Labor Party. She won her first direct election in the

19th National Assembly 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full r ...

as a member of the UPP with 49.37% of the votes in an area of

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

Goyang Goyang (''Goyang-si''; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Capital Area, with a popula ...

in 2012. Following the disintegration of the Unified Progressive Party after the

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 ...

government's petition to the

Constitutional Court of Korea The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judic ...

for the UPP's alleged pro-North Korean views in 2013, Sim helped found and is the current leader of the Justice Party. She was elected party chair in 2015. Sim won another seat in the

20th National Assembly The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly in domestic English-language media, is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. T ...

in 2016, again in an area of Goyang with 53% of the vote. In the 2020 election, she defeated

Moon Myung-soon Moon Myung-soon (; 18 October 1962), also known as Moon Myoung-soon, is a South Korean politician based in Goyang City. Career After graduating Seoul Girls' Commercial High School, Moon had worked at Kookmin Bank for three decades. From 2008 ...

from Democratic Party and Lee Kyung-hwan from now- PPP, becoming the first four-term parliamentarian from a progressive party in Korea.

Political positions and ideology

Economy

Her economic positions reflect the progressive platform of her party. This includes reforming ''

chaebol A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...

s'' (Korean conglomerates) so that hereditary succession is banned. Her key policy in the 2022 South Korean election was the proposal of a

four-day work week A four-day workweek is an arrangement where a workplace or place of education has its employees or students work or attend school, college or university over the course of four days per week rather than the more customary five. This arrangement ...

, which has been described as "a revolutionary idea in a country where workers endure notoriously long hours".

Social issues

Sim was the only major presidential candidate to openly support LGBT rights in South Korea.

National security

Sim opposes the deployment of

THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their termina ...

, a U.S. anti ballistics missile defense system, and supports a nuclear-free

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

Feminism

Sim self-identifies as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She has said that, "Sexism clearly exists in South Korean society". Polling in the 2022 South Korean presidential election suggested her strongest support came from women in their 20s. Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

has said that some younger women consider her a hero for what he describes as being able to "articulate the

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

agenda".

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sim, Sang-jung 1959 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) Seoul National University alumni South Korean LGBT rights activists Liberalism in South Korea People from Gyeonggi Province Anti-nuclear activists Democratic Labor Party (South Korea) politicians New Progressive Party (South Korea) politicians South Korean social democrats South Korean feminists South Korean progressives Justice Party (South Korea) politicians Justice Party (South Korea) Workers' rights activists Female members of the National Assembly (South Korea)