‘Guardian of teenagers’ joins presidential race

Kang Ji-won

Kang Ji-won, a lawyer who earned the nickname “guardian of teenagers” for his dedication to preventing juvenile delinquency, announced his bid to run in the presidential election as an independent candidate, Tuesday.

In a phone interview with The Korea Times, Kang, 63, said he was determined to join the presidential race to reform the political arena.

He said voters had a high level of political apathy toward politicians because corruption and bribery scandals were still prevalent in their election campaigns.

“I am announcing a bid to run in the presidential election, not because I am ambitious. I would like to overhaul the political culture by ending the bad practices that are still found in the political arena,” he said.

Since he published a book about mentoring in June, Kang said many of his readers, who were touched by the book, encouraged him to consider running in the presidential election as a candidate.

“Their encouragement was the key driving force behind my announcement to run in the presidential election today,” he said.

After passing the state bar exam in 1976, Kang served as a prosecutor until 1986, and was active in dealing with juvenile delinquency from 1978 when he assumed the relevant post.

The prosecutor took a deep interest in teenagers who had followed a very different path than he questioned a 15-year-old boy.

“The boy was sent to me after he stole a motorcycle. He kept weeping without saying a word. After seeing him, I realized that no people were born to be evil,” he said.

“After that I read books and did research on teenagers to figure out how I could help them out.”

Kang served as the first chairman of the Commission on Youth Protection from 1997 to 2000.

In November last year, he donated 100 million won ($88,300) to help troubled teenagers get proper vocational training and education.

Following his announcement, Kang’s wife Kim Young-ran, tendered her resignation from the head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commissions (ACCRC).

She said she decided to quit because it would be inappropriate for the wife of a presidential candidate to lead a state agency.

On Monday, Kim met Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik to express her intention to resign.

Kim passed the bar exam in 1978 and served as a judge. She became the first female member of the Supreme Court in 2004 and was named head of the ACCRC in 2010. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>

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