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

2017 South Korean presidential election An early presidential election was held in South Korea on 9 May 2017. The elections were conducted in a single round, on a first-past-the-post basis. Originally scheduled for 20 December 2017, the election was pushed forward following the imp ...

, running as the Justice Party's nominee. She again ran as the Justice Party's nominee in the 2022 presidential election, finishing in 3rd place. She 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 repr ...

since 2012, having previously served from 2004 to 2008, and was the leader of the Justice Party from 2015 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020. She announced her retirement from politics following the 2024 legislative election, effective at the end of the National Assembly's term on 29 May.

Education and early career

Sim obtained her

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

in education from

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

. 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, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

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, the ...

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 fugitive, 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 ...

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

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

Goyang Goyang (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's Satellite city, satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, w ...

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

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 until Impeachment of Park Geun-hye, she was removed from office in 2017. Park was the first and to date only woman ...

government's petition to the

Constitutional Court of Korea The Constitutional Court of Korea () is one of the apex courtsalong with the Supreme Court of Korea, Supreme Courtin Judiciary of South Korea, South Korea's judiciary that exercises constitutional review, seated in Jongno District, Jongno, ...

for the UPP's alleged pro-North Korean views in 2013, Sim helped found the Justice Party. She was elected party chair in 2015. Sim won another seat in the 20th National Assembly 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. Career After graduating Seoul Girls' Commercial High School, Moon had worked at Kookmin Bank for three decades. From 2008 to 201 ...

from Democratic Party and Lee Kyung-hwan from the United Future Party, becoming the first four-term parliamentarian from a progressive party in Korea. She announced her retirement from politics following the 2024 legislative election after the Justice Party failed to win seats for the first time since its foundation.

Political positions and ideology

Economy

Her economic positions reflect the progressive platform of the Justice 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. Several dozen large South Kore ...

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

Social issues

In the

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

National security

Sim opposes the deployment of THAAD, a U.S. anti ballistics missile defense system, and supports a nuclear-free

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

Feminism

Sim self-identifies as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. 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 (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

, 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 Entitlement (fair division), 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 c ...

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 LGBTQ rights activists Liberalism in South Korea Politicians 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 Women members of the National Assembly (South Korea) Sang-jung