Jang Gi-pyo (Korean: 장기표, 张琪杓; 27 December 1945 – 22 September 2024) was a South Korean politician and social activist.
Life
He was born in Sangnam-ri, Sangnam-myeon, Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province,1 and grew up in Jangbang-ri, Ibuk-myeon (now Hallim-myeon), Gimhae County. After attending Masan Technical High School, he entered Seoul National University, where he served as president of the student council of the College of Law and developed an interest in labor issues. In November 1970, upon learning of the self-immolation of labor activist Jeon Tae-il, he proposed to his family that his funeral be held as a Seoul National University student funeral, and he continued to maintain a sustained interest in the labor movement afterward. He then engaged in the democratization movement against the Yushin system and military dictatorship, and beginning with the 1971 Seoul National University student conspiracy case, he served five prison terms between the 1970s and 1990s.
In 1980, he was reported to have been named a wanted person in connection with the Kim Dae-jung conspiracy fabrication incident but to have fled and avoided arrest. In 1985 he served as director of the political research office of the National Coalition for Democratic and Unification Movement (Mintongnyeon), and in 1986, after being arrested in connection with the May 3 Incheon Incident, he was released at the end of December 1988. In 1989 he served as Secretary-General of the National Democratic Alliance of Korea, and in 1990, aiming for the entry of the extra-parliamentary movement into the institutional political system, he co-founded the Minjung Party with Lee Jae-oh, Kim Moon-soo and others. In the 1992 14th National Assembly election he ran in Dongjak-gu A (Seoul) and lost. Afterward, he distanced himself from the extra-parliamentary movement and attempted to enter the institutional political sphere.
In 1995 he co-founded the Reform Party with Seo Kyung-seok, Jang Eul-byung and others, then merged it with the Democratic Party. In the 1996 15th National Assembly election he ran in Dongjak-gu A (Seoul), lost, and left the party. In 2000 he attempted to form an alliance with Hong Sa-deok, but this failed when Hong joined the Grand Nat'l Party. Afterward, together with conservative figures such as Kim Yun-hwan, Lee Gi-taek, Lee Su-sung and Cho Soon, who had left the Grand National Party after failing to receive nominations there, he co-founded the Democratic Nation Party. He ran in the 16th National Assembly election (national constituency) but lost, and soon after left the party.
In 2002 he joined the then ruling Millennium Democratic Party and ran in the by-election for the National Assembly seat of Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, but lost, and immediately left the party afterward. In the 2004 general election he served as representative of the Korea Social Democratic Party, led by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and ran in Dongjak-gu A (Seoul), but again suffered defeat. Afterward he conducted a national campaign for relocating the capital. In 2012, ahead of the National Assembly general election, he attempted to found a provisional party called "National Thought" with Professor Park Se-il, but they parted ways. He then founded the Green Unification Party, which merged into the Justice Democratic Party, led by candidates excluded from Democratic United Party nominations, and ran as the first candidate on its proportional representation list in the 19th general election, but lost.2
In 1998 he opened and operated a political commentary room titled "Jang Gi-pyo Current Affairs Commentary" on the PC communication networks Hitel, Chollian and Nownuri. From 2013 he launched and served as publisher and editor of the internet news outlet "News Baro," under the slogan "Correct the media to correct the world." In 2014 he also invited Deng Yuwen, editor-in-chief of Study Times, the organ of the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, to hold a forum and lecture.
In addition, under the banner of "rational progressivism," he and 33 initiators, including Jang as director of the Shinmunmyeong Policy Research Institute, former lawmaker Park Beom-jin and former Democratic Labor Party policy committee chairman Joo Dae-hwan, held a social democracy forum (Sami Forum) in December 2014 under the title "Why Social Democracy Now?" The Sami Forum aimed to found a party in the first half of 2015, but it did not field candidates in the 2016 general election.
In the 2020 general election on 15 April, he ran as a candidate of the United Future Party in the Gimhae-si B constituency and lost. In 2021 he ran for the presidential nomination of the People Power Party but was eliminated in the preliminary contest. His repeated joining and leaving of multiple parties has drawn various criticisms. While many of his long-time extra-parliamentary comrades, such as Lee Boo-young and Kim Keun-tae, successfully entered the institutional political system, he continued to challenge for more than 30 years. A labor and democratization activist, he sought to build a party to realize the "democratic market economy" he had formulated, but failed. In April 2023 he founded the Headquarters for the National Movement to Abolish Privileges and conducted a national movement for abolishing privileges. In November 2023 he founded the Privilege Abolition Party and took part in the 2024 general election, but failed again. He died of gallbladder cancer on 22 September of the same year.
Criminal record
- Conspiracy to use explosives, conspiracy to commit insurrection: 1 year and 6 months' imprisonment, 3 years' suspended sentence – sentenced 11 September 19723
- Violation of the Anti-Communism Act, Resident Registration Act, and Military Service Act: 2 years and 6 months' imprisonment, 2 years and 6 months' suspension of qualifications – sentenced 29 December 19793
- Violation of the Act on Assembly and Demonstration: 1 year's imprisonment – sentenced 17 November 19863
- Riot, forgery of official documents, use of forged official documents, violation of the National Security Act, violation of the Act on Assembly and Demonstration: 6 years' imprisonment, 3 years' suspension of qualifications – sentenced 17 November 19863
- Violation of the National Security Act (other): 1 year's imprisonment, 1 year's suspension of qualifications – sentenced 26 February 19933
Major publications
- 1987 When Meeting in the Name of Our Love <Hyeongseongsa>
- 1987 The Logic of Liberation and Juche Ideology <Chingu Publishing>
- 1988 Song of Dawn <Mirae-sa>
- 1991 My Vision for a Politics of Love (8 volumes) <Hangilsa>
- 1995 Ethnic Development Strategy in the Global Village Era <Baeksan Seodang>
- 1997 Turning of Civilization <Mirae M&B>
- 1998 A Message of Hope to Prevent National Bankruptcy – National Salvation Declaration <Shinmunmyeong>
- 1999 Mr. President, I Hear the Sound of the Country Being Sold Off <Shinmunmyeong>
- 2001 National Vision of a New Civilization <Shinmunmyeong> Essays on the Economics of a New Civilization <Shinmunmyeong>
- 2004 The President vs. the People <Shinmunmyeong>
- 2006 Jang Gi-pyo's New Civilization Economic Vision – This Is How the Korean Economy Must Live <Myeongsang>
- 2007 The Essence of the North Korean Crisis and Proper North Korea Policy <Shinmunmyeong>
- 2007 National Vision of a New Civilization, Expanded Edition <Milalm>
- 2007 Love Between Spouses, That Wise Happiness <Milalm>
- 2007 Vision of Youth, Challenge of Youth – A Message to Young People <Milalm>
- 2008 Sorry, Politics! <Sidaeui Chang>
- 2009 Sorry, Economy! <Sidaeui Chang>
Family
- Spouse: Jo Mu-ha
- Children: two daughters (eldest daughter Jang Ha-won, second daughter Jang Bo-won)
Controversies and criticism
Controversy over whether he defected
Jang has been given the praise "eternal extra-parliamentary figure" by conservative media, and still receives it today. This was also reported in an interview by Choi Bo-sik of Chosun Ilbo in June 2019 and April 2020,45 and in the July 2019 issue of Shindonga.6 However, after taking part in the founding of the Minjung Party in 1990, Jang ran in a total of seven National Assembly elections through 2020, over 30 years. Since running for the National Assembly means entering the institutional political sphere, the prevailing view is that Jang, who has kept a certain distance from civil society movements, was not an extra-parliamentary activist.
Controversy over the payment of democratization compensation
Jang reportedly served as director of the organization bureau of the National Alliance (National Alliance for Democracy and Unification of Korea) in 1980. He says that in connection with the Kim Dae-jung conspiracy fabrication incident by the New Military Faction, a case related to the May 18 incident, he was not arrested, detained or imprisoned, but was named a wanted person and spent three years in hiding. However, reports emerged that Jang had refused a large government compensation payment (1 billion won) related to the democratization movement.7 Some articles said that rather than refusing, he had not applied. He stated that he had merely done what was expected of a citizen and an intellectual, and that he had not engaged in the democratization movement in expectation of reward.8 May 18 democratic merit compensation is paid when a person reports damage, the claim is reviewed, and the person is confirmed as a victim. Jang, however, says that he did not apply for compensation himself. May 18 compensation has three categories: death or disappearance, injury, and sacrifice (imprisonment or detention), and the sacrifice category requires an actual fact of imprisonment or detention. Since Jang has no record of imprisonment, he was not eligible to apply for compensation. Nevertheless, Jang spoke as if he were eligible and said that he had not applied.9 Because Jang was not arrested and went into hiding for three years during the Kim Dae-jung conspiracy case, he was not detained or imprisoned. May 18 compensation for those involved in the Kim Dae-jung conspiracy case was determined according to the number of days of detention. Therefore, the claim that Jang refused a large May 18 compensation payment is incorrect.10
Controversy over "migratory bird" conduct
There are arguments that his running as a candidate of the United Future Party amounted to a defection. However, Jang says it was not a defection but a political conviction. He said he ran with the United Future Party in order to judge the government. He lost the election. Jang also criticized the labor union that he had tried to protect, even though he had been arrested in 1977 in the Cheonggye Garment Workers' Union case (the central labor movement of that era, formed in the wake of Jeon Tae-il's self-immolation). Although he is a senior figure in the activist movement, he criticizes the Moon Jae-in government, which includes many activist figures. Criticism has emerged that he has fallen into self-contradiction or that he is a turncoat who changed his political convictions.11
Notes