[Politics X-File] "In My Day, the National Assembly Was..."... Lee Soon-jae, Choi Bul-am, Kang Bu-ja

⑦ 1992 General Election, Famous Entertainers Elected as Members of Parliament
Lee Soon-jae and Lee Joo-il in Constituencies... Choi Bul-am and Kang Bu-ja in Proportional Representation
Short Legislative Experience, Leaving Yeouido to Return Home

Editor's Note‘Political X-File’ is a serialized project that delivers ‘unprecedented stories’ recorded in the election results and incidents of Korean politics.

As of 2023, what would happen if the most popular celebrities like BTS or Lim Young-woong ran for election? They might instantly dominate public attention, bringing enormous buzz to the election.

However, running as a candidate from a specific political party itself poses risks for singers or actors. The moment political colors are attached, supporters of rival parties may turn their backs. The reason why talk of famous celebrities running for office cannot be dismissed as mere jokes is because it was a reality even in the last presidential election.

Regardless of the individuals’ intentions, the issue of recruiting certain celebrities became a focal point of interest, sparking heated attention. Since entertainers under the age of 40 are ineligible to run for president, it was a scenario that was impossible from the start.

In fact, it is common in Korean politics for famous actors or singers to appear as variables in elections. Even now, during important campaigns, celebrities who have personal connections often make supportive appearances. When the public sees familiar faces from TV at campaign sites, they tend to look on with fascination.

Actor Lee Soon-jae is listening to questions from the press at the production briefing for the film "Deokgu," held on the morning of March 14, 2018, at Megabox Dongdaemun in Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

From a party’s perspective, they are a guaranteed ticket to success. So, are there cases where celebrities go beyond just rallying support and actually run for office themselves? During the so-called ‘Three Kims politics’ era, in the 14th general election held on March 24, 1992, actors who were household names directly ran for office, creating a sensation.

The main figures were Lee Soon-jae, Choi Bul-am (real name Choi Young-han), Lee Joo-il (Jung Joo-il), and Kang Boo-ja. Lee Soon-jae, an actor born in 1934 in Hoeryong, North Korea, ran as a candidate for the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) in the Jungnang-gu Gap district of Seoul. This was during the period when he gained widespread popularity among middle-aged and older viewers as Daebal’s (Choi Min-soo) father in MBC’s weekend drama ‘What is Love?’

Candidate Lee Soon-jae won with 46,297 votes (48.71%), defeating Democratic Party candidate Lee Sang-soo (44.75%). Jungnang-gu was a stronghold of the Democratic Party at the time, but Lee Soon-jae’s nationwide popularity brought victory to the DLP.

The 14th general election also saw the birth of another famous entertainer-turned-lawmaker. The legendary comedian Lee Joo-il, born in 1940 in Goseong, Gangwon Province, ran as a candidate for the Unification National Party (UNP) under his real name Jung Joo-il in Guri City, Gyeonggi Province. He won with 25,751 votes (45.34%), defeating candidates from both the DLP and the Democratic Party.

1992 was also the year when Choi Bul-am, the eternal chairman of the drama ‘Country Diary,’ was elected as a member of the National Assembly. Born in 1940 in Incheon, he ran as the UNP’s proportional representation candidate under his real name Choi Young-han and was elected. Choi Bul-am was elected as number 5 on the proportional list, while the UNP’s number 3 on the list was the late Chung Ju-yung, honorary chairman of Hyundai Group.

On October 15, 2018, at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, actor Choi Bul-am, the national sponsorship chairman, is speaking at the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Green Umbrella Children's Foundation. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

The 14th general election is special among all general elections because it saw the simultaneous election of top figures from the acting and comedy fields to the National Assembly. Since both the presidential and general elections were held in 1992, political interest was hotter than ever.

In the 14th National Assembly, where Lee Soon-jae, Choi Bul-am, and Jung Joo-il all took their seats in the main chamber, another famous figure joined as a lawmaker. Kang Boo-ja, an actress born in 1941 in Nonsan, Chungnam, took over a proportional representation seat vacated after the presidential election and became a new UNP proportional representative. Although she did not taste victory in the general election, she ultimately became a member of the 14th National Assembly.

The dilemma faced by famous entertainers who joined politics was that the high level of attention came with great pressure. They inevitably received more scrutiny than other lawmakers, and even small mistakes were magnified. Even if they intended to continue their political careers, the realities were harsh.

Choi Bul-am ran as a New Korea Party candidate in the 15th general election in 1996 for the Yeongdeungpo-gu Eul district of Seoul but lost with 33,020 votes (32.49%). The person who defeated Choi Bul-am (candidate name Choi Young-han) was Kim Min-seok of the Democratic Party, who is still a member of the National Assembly today.

Kim Min-seok, who ran as a candidate for the New Politics National Party in 1996, won with 49,657 votes (48.87%).

Despite public prejudice thinking, “How well could actors or singers really do in politics?” these famous entertainers continued their legislative activities. They received the spotlight when becoming lawmakers, but it was not easy for them to establish roots in politics.

Former celebrity lawmakers eventually left Yeouido’s political scene and returned to their original professions, as they faced not only the high walls of real politics but also calls from their home broadcasting and entertainment industries. Thus, their brief but significant legislative experiences came to an end.