From Human Rights Lawyer to Civic Activist and Top Administrator
Elected Mayor in 2011 with Ahn Cheol-soo's Support... Longest-Serving Three-Term Seoul Mayor
Active in City Administration Until Day Before Disappearance, Preparing for Political Moves
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The missing Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, was ultimately found dead. This unprecedented event, where a sitting mayor who had led Seoul's administration for a full decade since 2011 died during his term, has plunged not only the Seoul city government and its citizens but also the political sphere and the entire nation into great shock and confusion.
Born in 1956 in Changnyeong, Gyeongnam, Mayor Park graduated from Seoul Gyeonggi High School and entered Seoul National University Law School in 1975. However, he was expelled before completing his first year due to participation in protests against the Yushin regime. He later graduated from Dankook University with a degree in history, studied international law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the UK, and upon returning to Korea, passed the 22nd Judicial Examination in 1980. Although appointed as a prosecutor at the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, he soon resigned and practiced law privately, working as a human rights lawyer for a considerable period.
In 1995, Park transformed into a social activist by taking the position of Secretary-General of the civic group 'People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.' He led various social participation movements, including campaigns to defeat corrupt politicians, judicial reform movements, small shareholder activism, budget monitoring, and information disclosure campaigns, opening a new horizon for civic activism in Korea. In 2000, he established the Beautiful Foundation and, based on it, also opened the Beautiful Store, a social enterprise.
He rapidly emerged as a candidate for Seoul mayor in 2011 after the resignation of former Mayor Oh Se-hoon. At that time, he succeeded in unifying the candidacy by receiving a concession from Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People's Party, and defeated Na Kyung-won of the Grand National Party to be elected mayor of Seoul.
As a former civic activist turned mayor, he implemented various social innovation policies such as half-price tuition fees, free school meals, regularization of irregular workers, youth allowances, urban regeneration, and support for social economy enterprises and cooperatives. In the subsequent local election, he defeated Chung Mong-joon of the Saenuri Party and secured re-election. In the 2017 19th presidential election, he ran in the Democratic Party primary but withdrew midway, instead running as the Democratic Party's mayoral candidate in the local election, defeating Kim Moon-soo of the Liberty Korea Party to win a third term.
Starting his third term in 2018 as Seoul's first three-term mayor, Park solidified his position as a leading presidential candidate within the ruling party. Especially this year, in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), he actively expanded screening clinics, disclosed confirmed patients' movement paths, managed those in self-quarantine, and took strong and preemptive measures such as revoking the legal status of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, minimizing the spread of the infectious disease based on his experience with the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. He also launched a 'National Employment Insurance' campaign in preparation for the post-COVID era.
On the 6th, marking the second anniversary of the 7th local government, Mayor Park enthusiastically explained his plans for the remaining term, emphasizing the expansion of large-scale public rental housing supply to address the recent rapid rise in real estate prices and housing issues. While he was reserved about running for president, he showed signs of preparing politically by appointing two special committee chairpersons in addition to the three official vice mayors of Seoul. Even on the day before his disappearance, the 8th, he held a press briefing in the morning to announce the 'Seoul-style Green New Deal' policy and reportedly discussed real estate-related policies with senior officials late into the evening.
However, on the morning of the 9th, Mayor Park canceled all scheduled official events and left the official residence dressed in hiking clothes without going to City Hall. At around 5:17 p.m. that day, his daughter reported his disappearance to the police, and about seven hours later, at 12:20 a.m. on the 10th, he was found dead near Sukjeongmun Gate on Bukaksan Mountain.
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