Democratic Party's New Floor Leader Park Kwang-on... Moderate Pro-Lee Nak-yeon Faction, 3-Term Lawmaker

Moderate but Driving Legislative Efforts like 'Geomsu Wanbak'
Experienced in Key Party Positions under Lee Hae-chan and Lee Nak-yeon Administrations

Park Kwang-on, a pro-Lee Nak-yeon faction member and three-term politician, was elected as the new floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The newly appointed floor leader Park is known for his moderate stance and is regarded as having close relationships with party members regardless of faction.

At the same time, he is praised for his strong drive to firmly push forward the party's policy agendas. Last year, as the chairman of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, he led the legislation of the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights' (Geomsu Wanbak) bill.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He graduated from Korea University with a degree in sociology and joined MBC in 1984, where he worked as an anchor, news director, and host of the program "100 Minutes Debate."

He entered politics by running in the 2012 19th general election for his hometown constituency of Haenam, Wando, and Jindo in Jeonnam but was not nominated. Later, in the 2014 by-election for Suwon Jeong district in Gyeonggi Province, he was strategically nominated by the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the predecessor of the Democratic Party, and was elected, serving three terms.

In 2015, he served as chief of staff to Moon Jae-in, then leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, and in 2017, he worked as co-head of the public relations team for Moon Jae-in's presidential campaign.

Under the leadership of Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan, he served as a Supreme Council member. During Lee Nak-yeon's leadership, he was the party secretary-general and supported former leader Lee in the Democratic Party primary for the 20th presidential election, classifying him as a pro-Lee Nak-yeon faction member.

With his extensive party experience, he has been consistently mentioned as a candidate for floor leader. He ran for floor leader last year but was defeated by Park Hong-geun, a pro-Lee Jae-myung faction candidate, and was elected this year after a second attempt.