Rhyu Si-min (; born July 28, 1959) is a South Korean politician who served as the 44th Minister of Health and Welfare from February 2006 to May 2007. Before starting his political career since August 2002, he was a journalist of ''

Dong-a Ilbo The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a newspaper of record in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A M ...

'' and ''

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' (, literally "The Korean Nation" or "One Nation") 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 alternat ...

'', with having his continuous

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...

and liberal attitudes. He was in the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human de ...

as an Assembly member (representative) for Deogyang A district, and is a graduate of

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 thr ...

with a degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

, and master's from the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...

. He resigned on May 22, 2007. He declared his presidential candidacy on August 18, 2007. He was selected by the liberal opposition parties to run for governor of

Gyeonggi-do 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 ...

province on May 13, 2010 In December 2011, Rhyu merged his People's Participation Party into the

Unified Progressive Party The Unified Progressive Party (UPP; ko, 통합진보당, RR: ''Tonghap Jinbo-dang'', Hanja: 統合進步黨) is a banned political party in South Korea. It was founded on 5 December 2011 as a merger of the Democratic Labor Party, the Peopl ...

, of which he was one of the co-chairs. He announced his retirement from politics on February 19, 2013.

Career

After graduatin
Shim-in Senior High(School)
in Daegu, he entered

and served as president of the Students' Union in the 1980s. He fought against

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 19 ...

's military regime to bring freedom and democracy to his nation, however, he was arrested with an accusation (the SNU Fraction case, which was made by Chun's regime) and enlisted to the DMZ to serve a military service for 33 months. He has become popular in a field of the Democratic movement of South Korea, with claiming his false-charge with
The grounds of an appeal
(항소이유서) against the Seoul district court which secured by Chun's regime. After the 1987 election, he married his colleague, Dr. Han Gyeong-hye (한경혜), an SNU graduate in Mathematics (and a fellow of Democratic movement) on November 1988, and served as an aide to

Lee Hae Chan Lee Hae-chan (born 10 July 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea from 2018 to 2020. He also served as Prime Minister of South Korea from 2004 to 2006. He served as Member of the National Ass ...

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

at that moment) for 2 years. After finishing his job, the couple went to Germany to study their majors in the 1990s. He has predicted that a gigantic scandal affiliated to the

Lee Myung-bak government The Lee Myung-bak government (, RR: ''I Myeong-bak Jeongbu'') was the fifth government of the Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 presidential elections. Most of the new cab ...

will be eventually publicized due to the two elections in 2012. Since 2019, Rhyu has been the host of a YouTube show and podcast called "Alileo" which literally means "I want you to know". On September 25, 2020, he called Kim Jong-un an Enlightenment monarch for officially apologizing for killing the South Korean people, sparking controversy in South Korea.

References

External links

Official Homepage

Simin Gwangjang(시민광장, Official political initiative)

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 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 Ryu clan of Pungsan