Cho Soon (; 1 February 1928 – 23 June 2022) was a South Korean politician who was the first publicly elected mayor of Seoul, serving from 1995 to 1997. Previously, he held office as the deputy prime minister of South Korea from 1988 to 1990 and as the governor of the

Bank of Korea The Bank of Korea (BOK; ) is the central bank of South Korea and issuer of South Korean won. It was established on 12 June 1950 in Seoul, South Korea. The bank's primary purpose is price stability. For that, the bank inflation targeting, targ ...

from 1992 to 1993.

Life

Cho Soon was born on February 1, 1928 in Jumunjin, Kōgen Province,

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. He graduated 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 ...

in 1949 and earned a doctorate from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. As a member of 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 Han ...

and later the Democratic People's Party, he held many political positions throughout his life. Cho became Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of South Korea under President

Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the cur ...

. He was succeeded in the position by Lee Seung-yoon in 1990. In 1992, he became the Governor of the

, a position he left a year later. In 1995, he ran for Mayor of Seoul, winning the race decisively with 42.4% of the vote. He assumed the office on July 1, 1995, becoming the first elected mayor of the city. Cho later served in 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 ...

from 1998 to 2000. He died in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

on 23 June 2022 of natural causes at the age of 94.

References

1928 births 2022 deaths 20th-century South Korean economists South Korean bankers Governors of the Bank of Korea Mayors of Seoul Deputy prime ministers of South Korea Kyunggi High School alumni Bowdoin College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of Seoul National University South Korean military personnel of the Korean War People from Gangneung Politicians from Gangwon Province, South Korea Seoul National University alumni Members of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea Soon 20th-century mayors of places in South Korea 20th-century South Korean politicians {{SouthKorea-politician-stub