Choi Bae-geun
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Choi Bae-geun | |
|---|---|
최배근 | |
 | |
| President of the Platform Party | |
| In office 8 March 2020 – 16 April 2020 Serving with Woo Hee-jong | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 April 1959 Seoul, South Korea |
| Party | Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Our Future (-2020) Platform (2020) |
| Alma mater | Konkuk University University of Georgia |
| Occupation | Educator, economist, politician |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 최배근 |
| RR | Choe Baegeun |
| MR | Ch'oe Paegŭn |
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.
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]