Rhyu Si-min (; born 28 July 1959) is a South Korean politician who served as the 44th Minister of Health and Welfare from February 2006 to May 2007 under the

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 ...

administration . Rhyu studied

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

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 ...

and later earned a master's degree in economics from the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. He worked as a journalist for '' The Dong-A Ilbo'' and ''

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...

'', before entering politics in August 2002. In February 2006, he became Minister of Health and Welfare but resigned on 22 May 2007. On 18 August 2007, he announced his candidacy for president, but later dropped out during the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

. Later, Rhyu was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the

United New Democratic Party The Grand Unified Democratic New Party (GUDNP; ) was a political party of South Korea. It was formed out of the Uri Party and its resulting splinter groups. Chung Dong-young was the party's candidate in the 2007 South Korean presidential elec ...

, representing the Deogyang A district. He was selected by the liberal opposition parties to run for governor of

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, ...

on 13 May 2010. In December 2011, Rhyu agreed to merge his People's Participation Party with the Unified Progressive Party and served as one of the co-chairs after the merger. He announced his retirement from politics on 19 February 2013.

Career

After graduating from Shim-in Senior High School in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, he attended

, where he served as president of the student council in the 1980s. He actively opposed

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

's military regime, advocating for freedom and democracy in South Korea. During this period, he was arrested in connection wit
''the Seoul National University Campus Informant Scandal''
and subsequently forced to serve 33 months of military service near the demilitarized zone. Rhyu gained prominence within South Korea's pro-democracy movement after his ''Grounds For Appeal'' () was published, challenging Seoul District Court's verdict. In November 1988, Rhyu married Han Gyeong-hye, a fellow participant in the pro-democracy movement and a Seoul National University graduate in mathematics. He served as an aide to Assemblyman Lee Hae Chan for 2 years, until February 1991. In 1992, Rhyu and his wife traveled to Germany to pursue further studies in their respective fields. Since 2019, Rhyu has hosted a YouTube show and podcast called ''Alileo'', which translates to "I'd like to let you know". On 25 September 2020, Rhyu sparked controversy in South Korea by referring to Kim Jong Un as an "Enlightenment monarch" after the North Korean leader issued an official apology for the killing of a South Korean official, who had allegedly attempted to defect to North Korea.

References

External links

Simin Sarang(시민사랑, Official on-line fanpage)

Simin Maul(시민마을, Online fanpage)

Newsimin(뉴 시민, On-line fanpage)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhyu, Si-Min 1959 births Living people People from Gyeongju Politicians from North Gyeongsang Province Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) United New Democratic Party politicians Uri Party politicians Asian social liberals South Korean progressives Liberalism in South Korea Health and welfare ministers of South Korea Pungsan Ryu clan Seoul National University alumni Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni