23 Facts About Park Won-soon

Park Won-soon was a South Korean politician, activist, and lawyer.

Park Won-soon was the longest-serving mayor of Seoul, from 2011 until his death in July 2020.

Park Won-soon was born on March 26,1956, in Changnyeong, South Korea.

Park Won-soon was enrolled at Kyunggi High School in 1971 and graduated in 1974.

At first, Park Won-soon went to earn his Bachelor of Arts at Seoul National University, but was expelled and detained for four months over a protest he held over the military dictatorship of President Park Won-soon Chung-hee.

Park Won-soon later earned his Bachelor of Arts at Dankook University.

Park Won-soon earned his diploma in international law at the London School of Economics at University of London in 1991.

Park Won-soon worked as a public prosecutor in the Daegu District Court in Gyeongsang Province from 1982 to 1983.

Park Won-soon worked as a human rights lawyer and defended many political activists in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1993, Park Won-soon became a visiting research fellow in the Human Rights Program of the School of Law in Harvard University.

In 2002, Park Won-soon stepped down from PSPD to run The Beautiful Foundation, a philanthropic group that promotes volunteerism and community service and addresses issues of income inequality.

In 2006, as an offshoot of The Beautiful Foundation, Park Won-soon founded the Hope Institute, a think tank designed to promote solutions arising from grassroots suggestions for social, educational, environmental, and political problems.

Park Won-soon praised Japan's local government system during his disaster prevention training there.

Early in 2012, Park Won-soon was accused of illegally manipulating the army draft health checkup to have his son sent to a favorable post.

Park Won-soon has since said that he would forgive the accusers.

Park Won-soon objected to the fare being raised without negotiation and warned that if the corporation proceeded, Seoul would take over management of the corporation.

On June 4,2014, Park Won-soon was elected to his second term as mayor.

Park Won-soon was a vocal critic of then-President Park Geun-hye and participated in huge rallies against her in central Seoul that led to her impeachment and ousting on corruption charges in 2017.

On June 13,2018, Park Won-soon was elected to his third and last term as Mayor of Seoul.

Park Won-soon accused Park of physical and digital harassment over a period of four years until she transferred work departments to avoid the misconduct.

The victim, who was employed as Park Won-soon's secretary, was asked to take care of intimate aspects of Park Won-soon's life, including handling his undergarments before and after he showered.

Park Won-soon sent inappropriate texts and photos to the victim, including pictures of himself in his underwear as well as obscene late-night messages over the Telegram app.

Park Won-soon's family accepted a state funeral, held at Seoul City Hall and streamed online on July 13,2020.