Moon Jae-in

At 71 years old, Moon Jae-in physical status not available right now. We will update Moon Jae-in's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Moon Jae-in (born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician serving as president of South Korea since 2017.

He was elected after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye as the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea.A former student activist, human rights lawyer and chief of staff to then-president Roh Moo-hyun, Moon served as leader of Democratic Party of Korea (2015–2016) and a member of the 19th National Assembly (2012–2016).

He was also a candidate for the Democratic United Party in the 2012 presidential election in which he lost narrowly to Park Geun-hye. As president, Moon Jae-in has met with North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un at inter-Korean summits in April, May, and September 2018 making him the third South Korean president to meet their North Korean counterpart.

On June 30, 2019, Moon met with both North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un and United States president Donald Trump at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Early life, education, and military service

Moon Jae-in was born in Geoje, South Korea, on January 24, 1953, shortly before the end of the Korean War, as the second child and oldest son among five children of father Moon Yong-hyung and mother Kang Han-ok. His parents were refugees from South Hamgyong Province, North Korea who fled their native city of Hungnam in the Hungnam evacuation during the Korean War. His father worked as head of agriculture department who detains food, especially rice of Korean colonial people as one of the main tasks at the Heungnam, Hamju, South Hamgyong Province.

His family eventually settled in Busan. Since his father did not want to become a government employee as he had been in North Korea, his father started a business selling socks, which left his family in great debt. His mother became the main earner by selling clothes received from relief organizations and delivering briquettes. Moon's family became attached to the Catholic Church when his mother went to the local cathedral to receive whole milk powder. Moon once said in an interview that he did not know how to ride a bike since his family was too poor to afford a bike or a monthly school tuition.

Moon entered Kyungnam High School and reportedly placed at the top of his class. He was accepted to study law at Kyung Hee University with a full scholarship. At university, he met his future wife, Kim Jung-sook. After organizing a student protest against the Yushin Constitution, he was arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and expelled from the university. Later, he was conscripted into the military and assigned to the South Korean special forces, where he participated in "Operation Paul Bunyan" during the axe murder incident in Panmunjom.

After his honourable discharge, the death of his father influenced him to decide to take the bar exam. He stayed at the Buddhist temple of Daeheungsa to study for the exam, and passed the first of two rounds in 1979. In 1980, he returned to the university to complete his remaining year of his studies. Later that year, he passed the second round and was admitted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He graduated from the Institute as the second in his class but was not admitted as a judge or state prosecutor due to his history of student activism against the Yushin dictatorship under Park Chung-hee. Moon chose to go into private practice instead.

Personal life

Moon married Kim Jung-sook, a vocalist at Kyung Hee University where he was also a student.

He and Kim both individually revealed in separate Korean talk shows that they met each other when Moon was a student activist protesting the Yushin Constitution.

He has a daughter and a son.

Moon and Kim now live with at least four dogs and a cat at the Blue House.

Before elected as the president in 2017, they lived with several dogs and cats who were all once abandoned by their previous guardians. Among those, a dog Maru (마루, a Pungsan dog) and a cat Jjing-jjing (or Jjing-Jjing-ee 찡찡 or 찡찡이) have been confirmed to live with them at the Blue House either by the media or its official social media posts. Jjing-jjing is the country's first-ever "First Cat."

After settling in at the official presidential residence at the Blue House, a dog Tory (토리, a mixed-breed) was adopted from an animal shelter in contrast with other "First Dogs" who have traditionally been purebred Jindo dogs. In regards to Tory's adoption, Moon stated that "we need to pay more attention to abandoned animals and care for them as a society" and that he wanted to remove the stigma against Tory's dark coat, which contributed to him being virtually un-adoptable for two years after he was rescued in 2015. He also received a pair of Pungsan dogs male Song-gang (송강) and female Gom-ee (곰이) from North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un as a gift shortly after meeting in September 2018. Gom-ee later gave birth to six puppies San-ee, Deul-ee, Gang-ee, Byul-ee, Dal-ee and Hen-nim (산이, 들이, 강이, 별이, 달이 and 햇님) named after Korean words for parts of nature - a mountain, grass field, a river, a star, the Moon and the Sun. On August 30, 2019, six puppies have been sent to Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon and Gwangju leaving their parents at the Blue House.

Moon is the third Korean president who is a Catholic, after Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun (a lapsed Catholic). Moon's wife, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, is also Catholic. He is the second leader who remains a practicing Catholic while in office; his baptismal (or Christian) name is Timothy.

His nickname is the "Dark King" (Korean: 명왕; Hanja: 冥王; RR: Myeong-wang), after the character Silvers Rayleigh from the Japanese manga series One Piece.

Source

Early career

He served under former President Roh Moo-hyun in the 1980s after becoming a lawyer. He and Roh handled lawsuits involving labor rights legislation and became known for their work in labor human rights. They remained friends up until Roh's suicide in 2009.

In 1988, he became a founding member of The Hankyoreh, a South Korean newspaper.

Moon became Roh's campaign manager during his presidential campaign, owing to Roh's insistence. Moon became Roh's close aide in various capacities in a presidential administration following Roh's election. Moon served as Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs, Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Society, and Chief Presidential Secretary from 2003 to 2008. When the National Assembly voted to impeach Roh in 2004, Moon led the legal delegation for Roh at the Constitutional Court and won the case. Moon, Roh's chief of staff, led the planning committee for the 2nd Inter-Korean Summit but did not attend the summit.

Political career before the presidency

Despite his youth, he began to become interested in politics. Moon Jae-in: The Destiny, which later became a best-selling book, was published. Park Geun-hye, the expected presidential nominee, had been on the rise against him. Moon rivaled Park in popularity in a February 2012 poll.

In the aftermath of a string of corruption scandals, Moon managed to cash in on the conservatives' demise in importance. "Moon has managed to portray himself as a moderate and dependable leader with the support of the younger generation," one pundit said.

In the 19th legislative election, Moon registered for a seat in the National Assembly in 2012. Moon obtained a seat in Busan's Sasang District as a member of the Democratic United Party on April 11, 2012, with 55% of the vote. The Sasang District is a member of the Conservative Party in 2021.

Moon was nominated for the Democratic presidential nomination on September 16, 2012.

In a three-way contest against Park Geun-hye, the rebel party's leader and the niece of late President Park Chung-hee, as well as independent software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo, he ran for the 2012 presidential election as the Democratic Union's nominee and daughter of the late president Park Chung-hee. After polls showed a most likely definitive loss for both candidates and Moon, Ahn dropped out of the race and endorsed Moon. Moon lost the election by a long shot.

On February 2, 2015, Moon was elected as the head of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD). Moon and the NPAD party's leader, as well as 2012 presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, had several public disagreements about the party's course prior to his election.

Ahn Cheol-soo left and founded the centrist People's Party as a result of Moon's official position. Ahn's departure and Moon's subsequent tenure as the party's leader resulted in the renaming of the liberal, NPAD party as the new Democratic Party.

Moon scouted several politically influential figures, including police investigator/criminology expert Pyo Chang-won, political critic Lee Chul-hee, and former Park's secretary Cho Ung-chun, all during his tenure, including former president Park's secretary Cho Ung-chun, to register for forthcoming legislative elections in 2016. Moon resigned as a recruiter/former Park advisor Kim Chong-in after his recruitment.

Source