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Moon Jae-in (born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the chief of staff to President Roh Moo-hyun, a member of the National Assembly, and the Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.
Born to North Korean refugees, Moon was raised in poverty in Busan. He excelled in school and studied law at Kyung Hee University. He became a lawyer and was involved in human rights activism with Roh Moo-hyun. He was imprisoned for organizing a protest against the Yushin Constitution. As a result of his work in human rights law, Moon was chosen to be Roh's campaign manager in the 2002 presidential election. (2025). 9788977771888, Moon Jae In. ISBN 9788977771888 He served in Roh's administration in various official capacities. In 2012, Moon was a candidate for the Democratic United Party in the 2012 presidential election, which he lost to Park Geun-hye.
In the 2017 presidential election, Moon was elected president as the Democratic Party of Korea candidate after Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed from office. As president, Moon received international attention for his meetings with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un at inter-Korean summits in April, May, and September 2018, making him the third South Korean president to meet their North Korean counterpart. On June 30, 2019, he met with both Kim and United States president Donald Trump at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). During his presidency, Moon favored the Sunshine Policy, a peaceful approach to Korean reunification. On economic policy, he favored reform of (conglomerates), raised the minimum wage by more than 16%, and lowered the maximum workweek from 68 to 52 hours. During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, Moon received praise domestically and internationally. His party won a historic victory in the 2020 South Korean legislative election. However, his party lost the next presidential election, making him the first president since South Korea's democratization in 1987 to transfer power to the opposition after a single term. He left office in May 2022, succeeded by his former prosecutor general, Yoon Suk Yeol.
His family eventually settled in Busan. Since his father did not want to become a government employee as he had been in North Korea, he started a business selling socks, which left his family in great debt. His mother became the main earner by selling clothes received from relief organizations and delivering briquettes. Moon's family became attached to the Catholic Church when his mother went to the local cathedral to receive whole milk powder. Moon once said in an interview that he did not know how to ride a bike since his family was too poor to afford a bike or a monthly school tuition.
Moon entered Kyungnam High School and reportedly placed at the top of his class. He was accepted to study law at Kyung Hee University with a full scholarship. At university, he met his future wife, Kim Jung-sook. After organizing a student protest against the Yushin Constitution, he was arrested, convicted, imprisoned at Seodaemun Prison, and expelled from the university. Later, he was conscripted into the military and assigned to the 1st Special Forces Brigade, where he participated in "Operation Paul Bunyan" during the axe murder incident in Panmunjom.
After his honorable discharge, the death of his father motivated him to study for the bar exam. He stayed at the Buddhist temple of Daeheungsa to study for the exam and passed the first of two rounds in 1979. In 1980, he returned to Kyung Hee University to complete the remainder of his studies. Later that year, he passed the second round of the bar exam and was admitted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He graduated from the Institute ranked second in his class but was not appointed a judge or prosecutor due to his history of student activism against the Yushin dictatorship under Park Chung Hee. Moon then chose to go into private practice instead.
He was a founding member of the progressive South Korean newspaper, The Hankyoreh, in 1988.
When the National Assembly voted to impeach Roh in 2004, Moon led the legal delegation for Roh at the Constitutional Court and won the case. Moon, as Roh's chief of staff, led the preparation committee of the 2nd Inter-Korean Summit but did not attend the summit.
Moon managed to capitalize on the conservatives' decline in popularity amid a series of corruption scandals. As one pundit said, "Moon had managed to portray himself as a moderate and rational leader who has the backing of the younger generation".
He ran for the 2012 presidential election as the Democratic United Party's candidate in a three-way race against Park Geun-hye, the incumbent ruling party's candidate and daughter of the late president Park Chung Hee, as well as independent software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo. Ahn dropped out of the race and endorsed Moon after polls showed a most likely definitive loss for both candidates were there to be a three-way race against Park. Moon went on to lose the election.
Moon's official role led Ahn Cheol-soo to quit and form the centrist People's Party. Ahn's departure and Moon's new tenure as party leader led to renaming the liberal, NPAD Party as the new Democratic Party.
During his leadership, Moon scouted several politically prominent people, including police studies/criminology expert Pyo Chang-won, political critic Lee Chul-hee, and former president Park's secretary Cho Ung-chun to prepare for upcoming 2016 legislative elections. After his recruitment, Moon resigned his position for another scouted advisor/former Park advisor Kim Chong-in.
He won the Democratic Party's nomination against fellow party members Ahn Hee-jung, Lee Jae-myung, and Choi Sung with 57% of the votes.
The general election originally had 15 announced candidates. Moon faced four other major party nominees during the election, including 2012 presidential rival and past party colleague Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party and Hong Jun-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party. He was elected the 19th president of South Korea in Korea's 19th presidential election by a large plurality over two.
On May 10, 2017, Moon won the election with a plurality of 41.1% votes (out of 13,423,800 votes nationwide). As Moon was elected in a special election, he did not have the usual 60-day transition period of previous administrations but was instead inaugurated the day after the election.
Moon's policy against corporate corruption, specifically in regard to Korean conglomerates known as " " is to give "minority shareholders more power in electing board members" of the companies.
His 2017 presidential campaign has supported re-opening of the Kaesong industrial park.
Moon's relatively liberal stance in foreign policy is reflected as he is quoted in a book: "I'm pro-U.S., but now South Korea should adopt diplomacy in which it can discuss a U.S. request and say no to the Americans." He opposes a re-balance of the security alliance with the United States, but has also stated that he would like South Korea "to be able to take the lead on matters on the Korean Peninsula." At the same time, Moon has stated that he considers America as a "friend" for its role in helping South Korea avoid communism while helping its economic growth.
President Moon and his government has been widely described as left-wing or liberal by media.
On 15 August 2019, coinciding with Liberation Day, large-scale flag rallies occurred in central Seoul, including Seoul Station, City Hall Plaza, Daehanmun, and the outer ring of Gwanghwamun Plaza, calling to impeach Moon Jae-in. Protests were also held on 3 October, Gaecheonjeol.
So far, the prosecution has had both investigation rights, and accusation rights and it leads to vastly over-concentrated power.
So, the main purpose of coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights is to weaken the accusation right of the prosecution.
It was started under the Moon Jae-in administration by former Ministers of Justice such as Cho Guk, Choo Mi-ae, and Park Beom-gye. Yoon Suk Yeol, who was the president, also participated as former Prosecutor General.
As part of the process, the Corruption Investigation Office for high-ranking officials was established, and the backlash from the prosecution was very strong.
Against this 'power rearrange' process, some executives of prosecution withdrew their seats as a sign of resistance.
In addition, through coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights, the ruling party tried to shift the power of the prosecution to others.
Like the time the Corruption Investigation Office For High-ranking Officials was established, high-ranking officials of the prosecution again resigned as a sign of resistance against coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights.
As a result, the power of the prosecution weakened compared to the past, by the prosecution reform during the Moon Jae-in administration.
Still there are some limitations. As the opposition party interrupted the related legislation process, it took more time than usual and some of the core part of the prosecution reform was revised.
However, more than 1.5 million South Koreans signed a petition to Impeachment Moon over what they claimed was the government's initial mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea. In response, more than 1.3 million South Koreans signed a second petition in just two weeks to support Moon over what they claimed was the government's capable control of the coronavirus.
An opinion poll conducted between 5-6 March of 2020 by , a public polling company, showed that 53% of the public had a positive evaluation of Moon's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. An opinion poll by Gallup Korea in the first week of March 2020 showed his approval rating rose from 44% to 67%, due to public's approval of his administration's handling of the outbreak. By January 2021, according to a Realmeter survey, his approval rating decreased to 34%, the lowest point during his presidency.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, James Kim, the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea stated that "Korea is proactively and transparently dealing with COVID-19. The confirmed cases are surging in Korea, due to the country's well-prepared testing procedures compared to other countries." CNBC's Matt McCarthy, a New York City doctor, praised Moon's government work on solving the coronavirus crisis, stating that "South Korea had been able to test tens of thousands of people. With the country's aggressive testing efforts, Korea's death toll from the disease is less than 1%, while the global average is 3.4%. This is thanks to the government's early preparation for the outbreak of infectious diseases."
In 2020, although a spike in new coronavirus cases in South Korea prompted authorities to reimpose tighter social distancing curbs in Seoul, there were thousands of demonstrators protesting against Moon Jae-in's policies. Police said that they would probe all participants of demonstrations held in downtown Seoul to look into whether they violated a court decision related to COVID-19 and other regulations. On October 3 the national foundation day, conservative groups held drive-thru anti-government rallies in southern Seoul, amid concerns about the spread of COVID.
Speaking to Buddhism and Christianity religious leaders in October 2019, Moon said, "A national consensus should be the priority for same-sex marriage. However, regarding the human rights of sexual minorities, they should not be socially persecuted or discriminated against."
In July 2020, the proposal of South Korea's first comprehensive anti-discrimination law, which would provide legal protection for minority communities, including the LGBT community, did not receive any open support from Moon. However, in December 2020, in a special report by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Moon emphasized the necessity of enacting the Equality Act in the country.
Human Rights Watch, in their Word Report 2020, called on the Korean government to take note of the urgent need for protecting the rights of Korea's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "President Moon Jae-in, who started his legal career fighting for human rights, is in several ways failing to promote them now," said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. In 2020, he and his government need to reverse course and prioritize human rights in South Korea, North Korea, and worldwide.
Subsequently, with its new three-fifths majority, the Democratic Party implemented a series of reforms and were approved by the National Assembly in December 2020 including:
He emphasized alliance with the United States and specified the need to assure dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. At the same time, he presented the question of unification in a regional context and signaled his hopes of working in cooperation with the international community. He supported sanctions against North Korea, while leaving open the possibility of their being rescinded, and indicated that it is crucial to establish a peace treaty with North Korea to end the Korean War officially in exchange for denuclearization.
Moon opposed the full deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems during his presidential campaign and called for more peace talks engaging with North Korea.
As of late July, following North Korea's latest missile launch and increasingly aggressive actions, Moon asked the U.S. permission to build up its domestic defense systems and temporarily set up a full THAAD system.
Moon met with Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, on 27 April 2018.
The inter-Korean rapprochement arouses broad enthusiasm among the South Korean population: Moon Jae-in's popularity reached 68% in April 2018.
Kim and Moon met again on 26 May. The second meeting was also at the DMZ, this time on the North Korean side of the Panmunjom village. The meeting took two hours. The meeting had not been publicly announced beforehand. The meeting was largely centered around the cancelled summit with Donald Trump.
In September 2018, Moon Jae-in visited Pyongyang in the September 2018 inter-Korean summit. He and 150 delegates—including prominent figures in business, culture, and religion—flew to the Sunan Airport in Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong Un. The two Korean leaders announced an agreement to decrease hostilities on the DMZ, further joint-economic projects, and open North Korean weapons facilities to international experts. The leaders also gave a speech to 150,000 North Korean citizens in the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium with themes of unification, lasting peace, and friendship. Moon also climbed Mount Paektu with Kim, which had been a "long unfulfilled dream" for him. Moon was called "Kim Jong Un's Top Spokesman" by Bloomberg News. In October 2018, Moon visited Europe and lobbied for reconciliation with North Korea during the tour.
In March 2019, U.N. panel accused South Korea of violating sanctions by not notifying the Security Council about its deliveries of petroleum products for use at inter-Korean joint liaison office. Also in the Annex of the Updated Guidance on Addressing North Korea's Illicit Shipping Practices, issued from United States Department of the Treasury, a ship of South Korea was listed as that believed to have engaged in ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean tankers.
In January 2020, Moon was still serious about inter-Korean cooperation. However, on June 16, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean joint liaison office. On 23 September, as video speech at 75th Session of United Nations General Assembly, Moon mentioned about his hope that "the UN and the international community provide support so that we can advance into an era of reconciliation and prosperity through the end-of-war declaration" and "the end-of-war declaration will open the door to complete demilitarization and permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
In November 2018, the Financial Times reported that President Moon Jae-In replaced Kim Dong-yeon, finance minister, by Hong Nam-ki, an economic policy official currently serving in the prime minister's office, and Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy. The reshuffle sets the stage for new economic ideas "in a nation that is struggling to transition away from its once-successful manufacturing model".
As of December 2021, the unemployment rate was down to 3.7%, the lowest since 2017 and in line with the unemployment rate of the previous two decades.
In May 2024, Moon published a memoir entitled From the Periphery to the Center (). The book renewed discussion of several controversies related to his presidency. Following the declaration of martial law by President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 3, 2024, Moon said in a post on Twitter: "I hope that the National Assembly will act quickly to protect our democracy from crumbling." He made a further statement urging the military to not participate in a non-emergency declaration of martial law, or obstruct the National Assembly's vote on its lifting. In a February 2025 interview, Moon expressed his regret for appointing Yoon as Prosecutor General during his term, as Yoon used the conflict over prosecution reform with Moon's administration as a springboard to enter politics and win the presidency. Moon initially planned to travel to Seoul to protest the martial law, before the National Assembly overturned the martial law order. Moon called his successor "completely unfit for the presidency—he had no vision, no policy skills, and wasn't prepared". On 14 February 2025, the Hankyoreh revealed that former Defense Intelligence Command leader Roh Sang-won's personal notebook contained specific action plans to arrest Moon, as well as several other individuals such as judges and celebrities, and have them sent to a detention center.
OECD and Pew Research Center polls showed that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which took place during Moon's presidency, South Koreans' levels of trust in government increased, and the government oversaw a more responsive and effective disaster response to the pandemic compared to previous disasters which took place in South Korea, such as the MERS outbreak and the Sewol ferry disaster. Moon's government reduced the maximum hour work week from 68 hours to 52, which led to an increase in work-life balance, expanded childcare benefits and provision, and also health care coverage.
However, Moon's government did not act on a new anti-discrimination bill despite having a majority in the National Assembly. It also failed to effectively resolve a housing crisis in the Seoul area and its surroundings (where half of South Korea's population resides). The Seoul housing crisis was said to be enough to swing the 2022 presidential election to the opposition conservatives to succeed Moon. Critics contended that the rapid increase in the minimum wage adversely affected the South Korean economy, which has a large number of self-employed people. Moon expressed some regret for the increase's impact on the self-employed.
For foreign policy, Moon would be remembered for presiding over South Korea's increased stature and prestige in international affairs as a middle power, and pushing forward with trade negotiations with South East Asia and India under his signature New Southern Policy (NSP). NSP aimed to diversify South Korea's economic and strategic relationships due to uncertainty caused by increasing competition between its closest ally, the United States, and the largest trading partner, China. However, Moon's summits with North Korea failed to achieve any significant breakthrough in inter-Korean or US-North Korea relations, and relations between South Korea and Japan fell to further new lows.
In 2017, Moon apologized to Vietnam for war crimes committed by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War, although the issue was minimized by the Vietnamese media and South Korean media as it was not seen as an official apology.
In 2018, the special prosecutor indicted South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo in relation to this case. In 2019, he was jailed for two years on charges of online-rigging operations in both the first and second instance. On 21 July 2021, he was sentenced to two years by the Supreme Court for online-rigging operations (crime on 'Interference with Business' by damaging or destroying any data processor,See article 314(2) of the Criminal Act. ) and eventually lost his position as governor.
In response to the Moon administration's treatment of Park Sang-hak, the North Korea Freedom Coalition issued a letter to President Moon. It alleged that human rights activists had been "harassed" and urged the Moon administration to "cease these actions of intimidation which seek to silence their freedom of expression." The letter noted that the South Korean government's actions appeared to conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights treaty, which was signed by South Korea in 1990. Signatories included Suzanne Scholte.
He and Kim both individually revealed in separate Korean talk shows that they met each other when Moon was a student activist protesting the Yushin Constitution.
He has two children: a daughter and a son, Moon Joon Yong who is active as a media artist.
After settling in at the official presidential residence at the Blue House, a dog Tori (; a mixed-breed) was adopted from an animal shelter in contrast with other "First Dogs" who have traditionally been purebred . In regards to Tory's adoption, Moon stated that "we need to pay more attention to abandoned animals and care for them as a society" and that he wanted to remove the stigma against Tory's dark coat, which contributed to him being virtually un-adoptable for two years after he was rescued in 2015. He also received a pair of , male Songgang () and female Gomi () from North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un as a gift shortly after meeting in September 2018. Gomi later gave birth to six puppies, Sani () , Deuri () , Gangi (), Byeori () , Dari (), and Haennim () named after Korean words for parts of nature - a mountain, grass field, a river, a star, the Moon and the Sun. On 30 August 2019, the six puppies were sent to Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon and Gwangju, leaving their parents at Cheong Wa Dae.
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