Choi Bae-geun

Choi Bae-geun (Korean: 최배근, born 12 April 1959) is a South Korean economist, educator and politician who served as the President of the Platform Party, along with Woo Hee-jong.

In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.
Choi Bae-geun
최배근
President of the Platform Party
In office
8 March 2020 – 16 April 2020
Serving with Woo Hee-jong
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byVacant
Personal details
Born (1959-04-12) 12 April 1959
Seoul, South Korea
CitizenshipSouth Korean
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations		Our Future (-2020)
Platform (2020)
Alma materKonkuk University
University of Georgia
OccupationEducator, economist, politician

Career

He studied economics at Konkuk University and University of Georgia.[1] He has been lecturing at Konkuk University since 1990.[1] He has been involved in various organisations, including People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and so on.[1] In 2004, he was briefly a columnist of Hankyoreh.[1]

In 2007, he became one of the co-Presidents of the Onward Korea,[1] a political organisation that never became an official political party. He later joined the Our Future (now Future Party) but quit later. In 2020, he founded a new political party, named the For the Citizens (soon renamed as Platform Party),[2] along with Woo Hee-jong.[3] He resigned on 16 April,[4] whereas Woo remained till the party was merged into the Democratic Party on 13 May.

Ideology

Choi is very critical towards the economic policies of the Moon Jae-in cabinet.[5][6] In December 2018, he cited that Moon, who called himself as a "pro-labour" was forwarding a failed labour reforms.[5][6] As an example, he added Moon's original manifesto to increase the minimum wage was not fulfilled.[5] He also denounced that Moon's policies were more right-wing than Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye due to the several projects i.e. privatisation.[5][6]

In 2019, he harshly criticised Japan under Shinzo Abe, citing that Shinzo wants to establish a pro-Japan government in South Korea.[7]

Criticisms

In 2019, Choi joined protests supporting Cho Kuk as the Minister of Justice, shortly after the minister had resigned following the controversies.[8][9] Choi then shouted in front of people, "Dear Cho Kuk, you're our eternal Justice Minister!"[8] Shortly before this, he condemned the prosecutor and anti-government medias for infringing the former Justice Minister, like what they had done to the ex-President Roh Moo-hyun 10 years ago.[9] When Choi founded the Platform Party, Kim Jin-tae, a United Future MP denounced the party as a "pro-Cho Kuk party", citing a Choi's remarks (calling the ex-Minister as the "eternal") in October 2019.[10]

References
  1. "최배근". Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  2. "민주당 비례정당은 '더불어시민당'…"열린민주당은 유사품"". 18 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  3. "[세계타임즈TV] 시민을 위하여 플랫폼 정당 창당대회". 8 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  4. "더시민 최배근 공동대표 사임 "내 역할 끝나"…與 합당 수순". 16 April 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  5. "최배근 "문재인 정부, 무능하고 아마추어 집단"". 20 December 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  6. "[시론] 무능이 빚은 경제정책의 역주행 / 최배근". 24 December 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. "최배근 "일본, 한국전쟁때처럼 한국 희생물로 부활 꿈꾸는 것"". 3 July 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  8. ""국민의 영원한 법무부 장관" vs "구속하라"… 또 '조국 대전'". 20 October 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  9. "보수적인 대구·경북서도 '검찰 개혁 촛불집회' 번져". 7 October 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  10. "김진태 "더불어시민당? 사실상 조국수호당…조국 재등판하나"". 20 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
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