Lee Cheol-seung


Lee Cheol-seung was a South Korean politician who served as Deputy Speaker for the 9th National Assembly of South Korea. He was a long-time lawmaker who served seven terms in the National Assembly, representing Jeonju. His art name was Soseok.
Lee was an advocate for the Korean independence movement, democracy, anti-communism, anti-military rule, and non-governmental organizations. After Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, Lee led a student union that under the United States and Soviet Union. He eventually entered politics in 1954 after winning a parliamentary seat.
Lee and his two political rivals, former Presidents Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, were famous for their political competition and the establishment and development of democracy in South Korea. He was given buried in the Seoul National Cemetery on March 2, 2016.

Early life and education

Lee was born on 15 May 1922 in Seoul, in Japanese-occupied Korea. He attained his bachelor's degree in Political Science at Korea University in 1949. Following the May 16 coup in 1961, Lee was forced to relocate to the United States due to his opposition to Park Chung Hee's military regime; there, he studied international relations at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1995, he received an honorary doctorate in literature from Woosuk University, and in 1998, an honorary doctorate in political science from Korea University.

Political career

Following the liberation of Korea in 1945, Lee led a student movement opposing the joint trusteeship of Korea, becoming the chairman of the in 1946.
During the 1954 South Korean legislative election, Lee ran a scuccessful campaign as an independent candidate representing Jeonju in the 3rd National Assembly of South Korea. During his first term, Lee opposed the Liberal Party's to the South Korean Constitution, which would allow president Syngman Rhee to run an unlimited number of terms. Following the ratification of the amendment in November 1954, Lee became one of the founding members of the Democratic Party in 1955.

Political exile

On May 16, 1961, Park Chung Hee, Kim Jong-pil, and Lee Nak-sun successfully staged a military coup d'etat. Immediately after, Park Chung Hee sent aides to try and win over key opposition lawmakers including Lee who rejected Park's request for help. Lee was forced to leave politics and went to the United States where he was vocally opposed to the military coup in Korea and studied political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Post-political career and civil society leadership

1990
1993
  • Director, Commemorative Committee for "Patriotic Martyr in Yeosoon"
1994~
  • Co-chairman, National Council for Freedom and Democracy
1995~
  • Advisor, Korea Eligible Senior Voters Federation
1996~
  • Chairman, Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation and President, the Seoul Peace Prize Selection Committee
  • Member, Organizing Committee for the 2002 World Cup
  • Chairman, Association of Patriotic Societies for National Foundation
1998
2005
  • 자유민주비상국민회의 대표의장
2007
2011~2016
  • Chairman, The Elders Group of the Parliamentarians' Society of the Republic of Korea

    Death

Lee died on February 27, 2016, at 03:45 KST, at Samsung Hospital in Seoul at the age of 94. A funeral was held for him on March 2, 2016, that began with a five-day wake and a police-escorted procession that led to the National Assembly and ended with a gun salute at the Seoul National Cemetery where he is buried along with former South Korean presidents.

Publications

  • The Republic of Korea and I
  • Oh! Who Will Look After Korea
  • A Challenge for Hopelessness
  • Long March to Democracy
  • Pan-National Student Federation
  • The Middle-of-the-Road Integration Theory
  • The Sound Argument of Chaotic Period
  • A History of Korean Students' National-Building Movement
  • How the Republic of Korea was Founded
  • ''My Political Thoughts for Democratic Development''