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

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.

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. 1 2 3 4 5 "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. 1 2 3 4 "최배근 "문재인 정부, 무능하고 아마추어 집단"". 20 December 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "[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. 1 2 ""국민의 영원한 법무부 장관" vs "구속하라"… 또 '조국 대전'". 20 October 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  9. 1 2 "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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