Cho Kwang-han (; born 1 February 1958) is a South Korean politician serving as Mayor of

Namyangju Namyangju (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. To the east is Gapyeong County, to the west is Guri, and to the north is Pocheon. Namyangju was originally a southern part of Yangju-gun, but was separated into Namyangju-gun in April ...

Gyeonggi Province 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, ...

from 2018.

Previous political career

He was previously an administrator at President

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae (), also known as the Blue House in English, is a public park that was the former Office of the President of South Korea, executive office and residence of the president of South Korea. Located in Seoul's Jongno District, directl ...

. He then worked for Kim's successor

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (, ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

. He was responsible for recruiting Jagalchi Market worker for televised speech in support of then-presidential candidate Roh which hit unusually high 12.4% viewer ratings. For this he was appointed by then-president Roh as his secretary for public relations and later vice spokesperson. In 2012 general election, he unsuccessfully ran for Seoul's constituency under the slogan "I want to make

Ahn Cheol-soo Ahn Cheol-soo (; born 26 February 1962) is a South Korean politician, medical doctor, businessperson, and software entrepreneur. He is a member of the National Assembly as part of the conservative People Power Party. Prior to his career in po ...

the president" but as an independent candidate to benchmark Ahn's "new politics campaign" as opposed to two-party system.

Mayor of Namyangju

In 2018 election, Cho became the first Democratic politician to become the Mayor of

, which was taken by main opposition party, PPP, for 16 years, defeating former deputy governor of Gyeonggi Province. He earned the party nomination defeating the former deputy mayor of the city. In October 2018, Cho launched the task force dedicated to eradicating businesses illegally selling extremely overpriced food and charging for bench usages at illegally installed restaurants around the major lakes in the city. In July 2019 the project was completed allowing citizens to enjoy cleaner lakes freely becoming the first in such project in the country. A month later Gyeonggi Province Governor

Lee Jae-myung Lee Jae-myung (; born ) is a South Korean politician and lawyer who has served as the 14th president of South Korea since 2025. Lee previously held office as the governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2018 to 2021, as the leader of the Democrati ...

launched similar projects.

Education and Academia

Cho holds a bachelor's degree in Chinese language from

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (abbreviated as HUFS; ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul, South Korea. The university currently teaches 45 foreign languages. In addition, it contains studies in humanities, law, ...

. He previously served as a visiting scholar at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and an endowed chair professor at Kunjang University College.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Kwang-han Living people Democratic Party of Korea politicians 1958 births Hankuk University of Foreign Studies alumni People from Gunsan Politicians from North Jeolla Province 21st-century mayors of places in South Korea Namyangju