Park Heong-joon

Park Heong-joon was born in Choryang-dong, East District, Busan, in 1960. His father was a doctor, whom he described as "an iron hand in a velvet glove". Little is known of his early family life, as he prefers to not talk about it. While studying sociology at Korea University in 1980, he worked as an editor of the school magazine titled KU Culture (), along with joining anti-government protests. even after wearing spectacles; as a result he was later exempted from the national service. Along with studying those ideologies, == Political career ==

In the early 1990s, Park was a founding member of the Popular Party; The party, however, won no seats in the 1992 election and was deregistered. He completed The Plan and Strategy of Globalisation () announced by the President Kim. and Movement for Decentralisation of Busan. he was elected to the National Assembly. On 26 August 2006, while he was a member of the Culture and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly, several sources reported that Park, along with Kim Jae-hong, an MP of the Uri Party, had visited an arcade game exhibition held in Los Angeles, United States from 13 to 15 September 2005, using the money from game industry associations. Amid criticisms, he said that it was an official visit suggested by the committee. On 13 December, he was summoned by the prosecution for receiving 100 million won (£63,000) from the CEO of Andamiro and a gift voucher association. However, he was cleared of wrongdoing on 23 February 2007. During the 2007 presidential election, Park was one of the key figures helping the GNP presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak to be elected the country's president. Prior to the GNP presidential primary, he chose Lee instead of Park Geun-hye or Sohn Hak-kyu (quit the GNP before the primary) as he perceived that Lee is an "individualistic conservative" compared to Park who is a "nationalistic conservative". he accused the Blue House's of their decision to sue Lee. In the election on 19 December, Lee was officially elected the President of the Republic. Despite his contributions, Park failed to get re-elected in the 2008 election. During the election, he contested against a pro-Park Geun-hye independent candidate Yoo Jae-jung. In this election, other pro-Lee Myung-bak figures such as Lee Jae-oh, Lee Bang-ho and Kim Hee-jung, also lost. On 31 August 2009, he became the Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs. In the 2012 election, Park was set to contest under the banner of the then ruling Saenuri (successor of the GNP) banner. This time, he faced a challenge from Yoo, who had already returned to the GNP (then Saenuri) following his election in 2008, at the preselection. He received 24,630 votes (29.59%) and was again defeated by Yoo. == Post-political career ==

On 1 September 2014, Park was appointed the new Secretary-General of the National Assembly. On 4 December 2015, he announced he would not contest for Suyeong in the 2016 election. His term as the Secretary-General of the National Assembly ended on 21 June 2016. Following the election lost in 2012, he has been involved in various programmes, such as Battle of Tongues, Powerful Opponents, ''Let's Be Politicians and so on. In 2017, he became the commentator of the conservative panel of the Battle of Tongues'', replacing the incumbent Jun Won-tchack who became a newsreader of TV Chosun. On 18 July 2017, at Battle of Tongues, Park harshly accused the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) for not learning from its past mistakes such as the 2016 political scandal. He also added that the party is only targeting far-right and elderly voters. == Return to politics ==

On 9 January 2020, Park was appointed the Chairman of the Advance Committee for Innovation and Unity, an organisation seeking the unity of centrist and conservative parties including the then Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the New Conservative Party (NCP). As a result, major conservative parties including both the LKP and the NCP was merged into the newly formed United Future Party (UFP). On 9 March, prior to the 2020 election, Park applied to nominate himself as a candidate for the Future Korea Party (FKP), the satellite party to the UFP. He, however, retracted the decision within 2 hours following the public backlash of his decision. The party president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who contested for Jongno, was also defeated by the former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon. Park cited that the party lost about 30 seats due to hate speeches and defamatory remarks of its several candidates. The party renamed itself to the People Power Party (PPP). On 29 October, Park officially rejoined the PPP, the same day when the former President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to 17 years in jail. 2021 Busan mayoral election The resignation of the Mayor of Busan Oh Keo-don on 23 April 2020 following the allegations of sexual harassment has provoked a by-election in 2021. Prior to the election, Park was considered to be one of the potential candidates of the UFP (then PPP), along with an ex-MP Lee Un-ju, the former Mayor Suh Byung-soo, the former Dongnae Mayor Lee Jin-bok and so on. On 15 December, Park officially launched his bid for Busan mayorship at Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Centre. In his manifesto, he declared the following: From November 2020 to March 2020, various polls indicated that he had been the most favourable candidate. On 12 March 2021, Park posted on his Facebook that he had quit being a professor of Dong-a University where he had been working from 1 September 1991. He indicated that he would permanently quit as a scholar but become a full-time politician. According to the newspaper, Park had opened 2 courses (1 for postgraduate and 1 other for doctorate) in February and the course selection period was from 15 to 25 February, while he was contesting PPP preselection for Busan mayorship. He expressed his gratitude to his supporters after he was confirmed to be elected. At 02:30 KST on 8 April, the ballot counting was finished, and Park received 961,576 votes (62.67%). == Mayor of Busan ==

Park took the oath of office at 11:00 KST 8 April 2021 after he received a certificate of election from the Busan Election Commission. His first term ended on 30 June 2022 as he was elected in a by-election; he served the remaining term of Oh Keo-don. and will serve his second term as mayor until 30 June 2026. Inauguration Park paid a visit to Chungnyeolsa at 8:30 KST 8 April, and then subsequently headed to the City Election Commission, where he received a certificate of election. His inauguration ceremony at the Busan Metropolitan City Hall proceeded with an online format due to social distancing in order to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. == Political orientation ==

Formerly a left-wing Marxist, Park's political stance moved to centre-right. In 2007, he also declared himself as a "centre-right". Nowadays, Park is critical towards left-wing ideology. He also calls the Moon Jae-in government's policy to increase the minimum wage to 10,000 won (£6.7) as a "populist policy". == Personal life ==

Park has been married to Cho Hyun, a businesswoman who has been operating Cho Hyun Gallery (World Gallery before 2008) since 1990. Her mother died in 2009. Both have a son and a daughter. On 17 March 2021, he revealed through his Facebook that Cho Hyun is his second wife. JoongAng Ilbo reported 2 days later that Cho had already been having a daughter and a son with her ex-husband and then remarried Park in December 1999. == Works ==

Television Books • Modern Society and Ethics (1990) • Modern Labour Process Theory (1991) • Modern Society and Ideology (1992) • Frontier of the 21st Century (1994) • Digitisation — The Meaning in the History of Civilisation and the Way of National Strategy (1996) • Understanding the 21st Century (1997) • ''Reflective Civil Society and Citizens' Movement'' (2001) • A Study on the Application of Regulatory Negotiations (2007) • Korean Society — What and How to Change (2014) • Reconstitution of Conservatism (2019) == Election results ==

General elections Local elections Mayor of Busan ==Notes==