Han Sun-kyo
Han Sun-kyo is a South Korean former broadcaster and politician, who was the Member of National Assembly from 2004 to 2020. He was also the President of the Future Korea Party from February to March 2020. Prior to his political career, he worked as a newsreader of MBC from 1984 to 1995. He was also the Chairman of the Korean Basketball League from 2011 to 2014.
Early life and education
Han Sun-kyo was born in Seoul in 1959 as a son of Han Woong-kyo. He graduated from Daeil High School in 1977; he is also a colleague to the former Mayor of Seoul Oh Se-hoon, and the former State Minister for Political Affairs of the Blue House Park Hyung-joon. He received a Bachelor of Physics from Sungkyunkwan University, as well as a master's degree in political science. He wrote a thesis named "The Conditions on the Rise of A Female Head of the State : Comparison Between the United Kingdom and South Korea" in 2006.Career
Han entered to MBC in 1984 and was selected as a newsreader, in which he served till 1995 when he quitted the company and became a freelancer. He joined a 50-day strike in 1992 held by MBC trade union to against the company's pro-Democratic Liberal Party stance. While at MBC, he also worked as a basketball stadium announcer.Han was also the 1st emcee of Good Morning from 1996 to 2004 but retired as a broadcaster in 2004 to join politics.
In 2011, he was elected as the Chairman of the Korean Basketball League, defeating the incumbent Chun Yook. In fact, he announced his bid in 2008 but lost to Chun.
Political career
Prior to the 2004 election, Han announced his bid for running as an MP on 31 December 2003, and joined the Grand National Party in January 2004. He was selected as the GNP candidate for Yongin 2nd constituency, and won with a majority of 25,319 votes. Shortly after this, he was appointed as the party's co-spokesperson but resigned after 3 months.A pro-Park Geun-hye figure, Han contested GNP preselection for Suji District in 2008 but lost to Yoon Gun-young. He subsequently left the party and contested as an independent candidate, instead of joining the Pro-Park Alliance. He returned to GNP after his re-election.
Han contested for newly-formed Yongin 3rd constituency in 2012 and defeated the Democratic Unionist Party candidate Kim Jong-hui with a majority of 11,486 votes. Shortly after the re-election in 2016, he 2016 [Saenuri Party leadership election|contested as the Saenuri president] but received 9.9% and came to the last.
Prior to the 2017 presidential election, 13 Bareun Party MPs announced their return to the Liberty Korea Party. Han showed his opposition of it, adding that he would leave if the party accepts all of them. Nevertheless, he did not quit his party. He unsuccessfully contested as the party's parliamentary leader in December 2017.
On 4 March 2019, Han was appointed as the Secretary-General of the LKP by the 2019 [Liberty Korea Party leadership election|newly-elected] President Hwang Kyo-ahn. However, he stepped down on 17 June due to the "health reasons", but later Nocut News reported that he experienced discords with Hwang.
On 5 February 2020, Han was elected as the President of the newly-formed Future Korea Party, a party that was often regarded to be formed as the satellite party to the Liberty Korea Party. However, he stepped down from the party presidency due to conflicts with the UFP with issues regarding candidate preselection for upcoming general election.