He became an officer of the Department of Provincial Administration, serving as Chief district officer of several districts
(amphoe) in Northeastern and Central Thailand. He later changed to the
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), successively serving as director of
Bang Khen district, deputy director of the cleansing department, assistant to the permanent secretary for the BMA, director of the community development department, director of the education department, and deputy permanent secretary for the BMA. In 2002, he returned to the state administration, successively serving as deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Labour, and permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Justice. Coevally, he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Bangkok Mass Transit Authority starting from 2003. From 2006 to 2010, he was the rector of
Southeast Asia University. The government, that acted only in caretaker capacity after dissolving the House of Representatives in December 2013, was toppled by a
military coup on 22 May 2014. The junta ordered all cabinet members to report to their headquarters, but unlike other politicians Charupong refused to turn himself in. He claims to have taken shelter at an unspecified place in Northeastern Thailand. As a consequence, the
National Council for Peace and Order blocked his bank accounts and assets. On 24 June 2014, Charupong announced the formation of the
Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (OFHD), seeking to restore Thai popular sovereignty in the face of the
2014 Thai coup d'état. The date chosen is the 82nd anniversary of the
Siamese Revolution of 1932. The organisation's name recalls the Thai underground resistance movement against Imperial Japan during World War II known as the
Free Thai Movement (,
Seri Thai). On 24 June 2015, Charupong, acting as Secretary-General of OFHD, in a video uploaded on YouTube warned Thais of the risk Thailand turning into a failed state and detailed three goals of OFHD: (1) abolition of the Privy Council, (2) depoliticization/democratization/normalization of the Thai Army, and (3) depoliticization of the Thai judiciary. == References ==