Shim Jae-chul (; born 18 January 1958) is a South Korean journalist and politician. He is a current 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 ...

and the Floor Leader of the

United Future Party The People Power Party (PPP; ) is a conservative and right-wing political party in South Korea. It is the second-largest party in the National Assembly. The PPP, along with its historic rival, the Democratic Party, make up the two large ...

Early life and career

He was born in

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

. He became an activist during

Gwangju Uprising The Gwangju Democratization Movement, also known in South Korea as May 18 Democratization Movement (), was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the coup of Chun Doo-hwan. The upr ...

in 1980. He graduated Seoul University department of English education. He later worked as a journalist of MBC in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He joined the

New Korea Party The New Korea Party (NKP; ) was founded by the merging of Roh Tae-woo's Democratic Justice Party, Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP; ). It ...

following the recommendation from the ex-president

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (, ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015), often referred to by his initials YS, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, Kim spent almost 30 ye ...

, in 1996. Shim was elected as the representative of

Dongan-gu Dongan District () is a district of the city of Anyang in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Administrative divisions Dongan District is divided into the following "'' dong''"s. *Bisan-dong (Divided in turn into Bisan 1 to 3 Dong, Buheung-dong and ...

for the 16th National Assembly of the Republic of Korea in 2000. He has been reelected four times. In 2016, he was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. He supported the impeachment of president

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 ...

. In 2019, he was elected as the Floor Leader of the

Liberty Korea 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 Hann ...

, succeeding

Na Kyung-won Na Kyung-won (, born 6 December 1963) is a South Korean judge and politician. She is a member of the conservative People Power Party. She has been a member of the National Assembly since 2004. From December 2018 to December 2019 she was the parl ...

. Following the merger of the

with the New Conservative Party and Onward for Future 4.0, he retained his position.

Controversy

Human rights violation

He was convicted of human rights violations during the early 1980s. He was an activist against

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 ...

, but he attempted to disorganize the protest. This decision led to a massacre. After that, he tortured "activists for democracy".

Rhyu Si-min 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 administration . Rhyu studied economics at Seoul National University an ...

was one of these victims.

Inappropriate behavior

In 2013, he was caught looking at a nude photo on his phone. He sent a Kakao Talk message that insulted the bereaved of Sewol sinking.

Rebellion

On 28 November 2017, he declared that he would report president

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...

along with his secretaries as "rebellion".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shim, Jae-chul 1958 births Living people Deputy speakers of the National Assembly (South Korea) South Korean journalists Jae-chul Catholic University of Korea alumni People from Gwangju People Power Party (South Korea) politicians