Roh confidant rises from humble origins

Moon Jae-In, former presidential chief of staff to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, is a novice in politics. The 59-year-old entered politics by winning the April 11 parliamentary election in Busan.

The first-term lawmaker may lack political experience, but he has a deep insight into running the country as he was the senior aide to the late President Roh Moo-hyun.

He was born on Geojae Island in South Gyeongsang Province on Jan. 24, 1953.

His parents, refugees from Hamkyung Province in North Korea, struggled to make ends meet in the southern region.

In search of a better life, his family moved to Busan when he was in elementary school.

Moon’s family, however, continued to suffer from financial difficulties as his father was unsuccessful in running a small business causing deeper debt.

He wanted to study history at university, but majored in law because his high school teacher and parents insisted he “not waste his high score” on the university entrance test.

Always politically aware and involved, in his junior year at Kyung Hee University in 1975, he led a rally in protest of President Park Chung-hee’s iron-fisted Yushin regime.

He was arrested and expelled from school as a result of the anti-government activities.

Immediately after being released from prison, he was drafted for military service.

Moon was assigned to the 1st Special Forces Brigade, in which the commander was Chun Doo-hwan, who later seized power through a coup following the 1979 assassination of Park.

He was discharged from the military in 1978 and prepared for the bar exam in a Buddhist temple.

Moon managed to return to school in 1980, but was arrested again on charges of violating martial law.

He heard the news that he had passed the bar exam from his wife while being detained at a police station.

After graduating in second place from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Moon wanted to be a judge, but it was not possible because of his record of anti-government activities.

He returned to Busan to become a lawyer.

Moon met with Roh Moo-hyun, a human-rights lawyer one year his junior.

The two opened a law office with the aim of tackling labor and human rights cases in the region without providing bribes and unsolicited entertainment to judges and prosecutors, a common practice at that time.

In 1988, the two lawyers decided to take separate paths. Moon continued to practice law, whereas Roh Moo-hyn entered politics by winning a National Assembly election.

As Roh declared his presidential ambitions in 2002, Moon spearheaded election campaigns for the former’s camp in Busan.

He earned the nickname “shadow to Roh Moo-hyun” while serving as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs and later the chief of the presidential staff under the Roh administration.

Moon stayed away from politics and the media as Roh ended his five-year presidential term in 2008.

However, he led the legal counsel in the defense against the prosecutors’ investigation into Roh’s alleged receipt of bribes from a businessman, in what appeared to be a political ploy.

When Roh chose death in 2009, Moon took charge of arranging the funeral as the head of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. <The Korea Times/Lee Tae-hoon>

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