15 Facts About Roh Hoe-chan

Roh Hoe-chan was a member of the 17th, 19th, and 20th National Assemblies.

Roh Hoe-chan was born on 31 August 1956 in Busan into a middle-class household.

Roh Hoe-chan attended the prestigious Kyunggi High School in the 1970s.

Roh Hoe-chan was instrumental in the formation of the Incheon Democratic Workers' Federation with the aim of creating the workers' party.

Roh Hoe-chan was jailed for 30 months after being caught by the government in 1989, accused of breaking the National Security Act.

Roh Hoe-chan served as a member of the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008.

Roh Hoe-chan co-founded the New Progressive Party with Sim Sang-jung, Cho Seungsoo, and other members of the People's Democracy faction of the Democratic Labor Party.

Roh Hoe-chan unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Seoul as a New Progressive Party candidate in 2010.

Roh Hoe-chan again served as a member of the National Assembly on behalf of the Unified Progressive Party and the Justice Party in 2012 to 2013.

Roh Hoe-chan broke with the Unified Progressive Party after allegations that the faction led by the party leader Lee Jung-hee had manipulated the party list to elect members of her own faction into the National Assembly.

Roh Hoe-chan was charged with breaking Korea's communication secrecy act, and after a long legal battle, he was sentenced to 4 months in prison and given a 1-year suspended prison sentence in 2013.

Roh Hoe-chan was again elected to the National Assembly, this time as a member of the Justice Party, in 2016.

Roh Hoe-chan was a cello player from his elementary school days, and often dreamed of a society where every citizen could pick up a musical instrument.

Roh Hoe-chan committed suicide, aged 61, by jumping from his mother's apartment in Seoul on 23 July 2018.

Roh Hoe-chan's death occurred during the course of the special prosecutor's investigations into the illegal political funds of Druking, the main perpetrator of the South Korean opinion-rigging scandal.