(News Focus) Ex-PM Lee Hae-chan a towering figure in S. Korea's fight for democracy

▲ Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan is seen at his inauguration ceremony in this June 2004 file photo. (Yonhap)

▲ Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan (L) is seen in this undated file photo with former President Roh Moo-hyun. (Yonhap)

▲ Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan (R) shakes hands with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung (C) and former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum after watching the exit poll results for the parliamentary elections at the National Assembly in Seoul in this April 10, 2024, file photo. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(News Focus) ex-PM-life

(News Focus) Ex-PM Lee Hae-chan a towering figure in S. Korea's fight for democracy

SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, who died Sunday while visiting Vietnam, was a towering figure in South Korea's struggle for democracy who endured torture and imprisonment before serving seven terms as a lawmaker and advising multiple liberal presidents.

Lee began his fight for democracy in the 1970s when the country was under the authoritarian rule of President Park Chung-hee.

As a sociology student at Seoul National University, he took part in nationwide protests against Park's rule in 1974, resulting in his imprisonment for nearly a year.

While standing trial on charges of playing a role in a 1980 insurrection case involving former President Kim Dae-jung, he famously declared his determination to "fight with my life until this land is democratized."

"The historic crimes you are committing cannot be tolerated under any circumstances," he said at the time, referring to the military regime of then President Chun Doo-hwan, which violently suppressed a pro-democracy movement in the southwestern city of Gwangju in May 1980.

Days later, Lee was sentenced to a 10-year prison term.

The days he spent in jail, however, only fueled his desire for democracy as he met other activists there, including former President Kim Dae-jung.

Following his release under a special pardon in 1982, Lee led the Constitutional revision that introduced the direct presidential election system.

In 1987, he joined the Party for Peace and Democracy and was elected to represent a district in Seoul's Gwanak Ward in parliamentary elections the following year.

While serving five consecutive terms in the National Assembly, Lee also served as deputy mayor of Seoul in 1995, and as the first education minister of the Kim Dae-jung administration in 1998.

As education minister, he was credited with "normalizing" school education by expanding the adoption of a standardized system under which students were assigned to high schools based on preference, place of residence and balanced assignment, not on performance.

During the 2002 presidential election, Lee helped the election of President Roh Moo-hyun as election committee planning chief for the Millennium Democratic Party.

In 2004, Roh appointed him as his second prime minister and placed such enormous trust in him that he reportedly considered them to be a "match made in heaven."

Lee ran in the presidential primaries in 2007 but lost, and later took the helm of the Democratic United Party.

He again won a parliamentary seat representing the central administrative city of Sejong in 2012, and was reelected in 2016.

During the 2024 parliamentary elections, he led the Democratic Party to victory as co-campaign chief, together with now President Lee Jae Myung and former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

Last October, he was appointed senior vice president of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council to support the North Korea and unification policies of the Lee Jae Myung administration.

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