Kuo Kuo-wen
Kuo Kuo-wen, also known by the English name Robert Kuo, is a Taiwanese political scientist and politician. He has served as a member of the Legislative Yuan since 2019. From 2016 to 2017, he was a deputy minister of labor. Previously, he was the secretary-general to the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions and a member of the Tainan City Council.
Early life and education
Kuo Kuo-wen was born in Guanmiao District, Tainan, on 11 March 1967. After graduating from Aletheia University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, he earned a master's degree in national development from National Taiwan University and, in 2015, his Ph.D. in political science from National Cheng Kung University. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Intergovernmental Relations and Local Finance under Institutional Change: A Case Study of Tainan City Government".Activism
Kuo is involved with the labor movement in Taiwan, and was the secretary-general of the and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions.Political career
In May 2016, he was appointed the deputy minister of labor, and vacated his seat on the Tainan City Council to take the post. In September 2017, he left his position at the labor ministry, citing personal reasons. Considered a potential candidate for the 2020 legislative election, Kuo instead contested a March 2019 legislative by-election in Tainan for the open seat of Huang Wei-cher, and defeated four other candidates. Kuo won the election, though he finished less than three percent ahead of his closest challenger, Kuomintang candidate, in a district that has been considered a stronghold for the Democratic Progressive Party. Kuo was sworn in as a member of the Legislative Yuan on 21 March 2019. He won a full legislative term in 2020, facing Kuomintang candidate.During the legislative reform controversy on 17 May 2024, he snatched documents from Chester Chou, the secretary-general of the Legislative Yuan, and fled in an attempt to prevent the majority opposition coalition from passing the bill.