Kim Young-hwan

Kim was born in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, in 1955.^[1][2] After graduating from Cheongju High School in 1973,^[2] he studied dentistry at Yonsei University.^[1] In 1977, he was detained for 2 years^[1][3] due to leading a protest to abolish the Restoration Constitution.^[2] He was also involved in anti-dictatorship protests in 1980.^{[4][failed verification]}

Kim also wrote several poems, including A Day of a Simple Assembler (단순 조립공의 하루) written under the pseudonym of Kim Hae-yoon (김해윤).^[3] Following his graduation in 1988, he opened a hospital.^[2][3]

Kim Young-hwan was brought into the National Congress for New Politics in 1995 along with Kim Geun-tae, with whom he built a close relationship as a labourer.^[3] He ran in the 1996 election and was elected.^[1][2][3] Following his re-election in 2000, he was appointed the Minister of Science and Technology in 2001.^[2] By the time of his appointment, he was the youngest person serving the position.^[1][3]

In 2003, when the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) was split after the dissidents formed the new party named Uri Party, Kim remained at the MDP.^[3] He failed to be re-elected in the 2004 election.^[1][3] Then, he returned as a dentist for a while.^[2][3] He launched a bid for Seoul mayorship in 2006, but his party chose Park Joo-sun instead.^[5] He harshly criticised the party's decision and warned he could leave the party.^[5]

Kim returned to the National Assembly following his election in the 2009 by-election.^[3] In 2012, he announced his bid to run as the President of the Republic^[6] but lost at the preselection.^[4]

In 2016, Kim joined the People's Party formed by Ahn Cheol-soo.^[1] He stood again as an MP candidate in the 2016 election but lost to Kim Cheol-min.^[7] Shortly after that, he was appointed the Secretary-General of his party.^[8] He resigned on 10 November due to the disagreement with the party's decision to join outdoor rallies against the President of the Republic, Park Geun-hye involved in a political scandal.^[9] In January 2017, he ran for the party presidency but lost to Park Jie-won; instead, he was elected as one of the Vice Presidents.^[1]

Prior to the local elections in 2018, Kim was selected as the Bareunmirae candidate for Gyeonggi governorship.^[10] He harshly condemned the Democratic candidate Lee Jae-myung for being connected to various controversies,^[11][12][13] but ended up with 4.8%, coming behind Lee Jae-myung and Nam Kyung-pil.^{[14][unreliable source?]} He ran for the party presidency on 2 September but lost.^[15]

In February 2020, Kim joined the United Future Party and was elected as one of the vice presidents.^[16]

Kim married Chun Eun-joo in 1985,^[17] who is a cousin to Yang Hyun-suk, the former Chief Executive Officer of YG Entertainment.^[3] Both have a son and two daughters.^[3][4]