The Seoul Free Lunch Referendum was a referendum held on 24 August 2011, on the subject of free school meals in the schools around the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Then-mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, proposed to provide a limited free meal service to the 30% of the impoverished children in Seoul, but the Democratic Party proposed to make the free meal service to every child in Seoul starting from younger elementary school children and gradually to middle school children. [1] This has become the cause of Oh Se-hoon's action to make the final decision of the policy through a referendum. The referendum was later rejected due to the low voter turnout of 25.7%, significantly lower than the required turnout of 33.3%. [2] The low voting rate contributed Oh Se-hoon's resignation from the mayoralty of Seoul. [3]
The Liberty Korea Party (Korean: 자유한국당) was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party, and before that as the Hannara Party from 1997 to 2012, both of which are still colloquially used to refer to the party. The party formerly held a plurality of seats in the 20th Assembly before its ruling status was transferred to the Democratic Party of Korea on 27 December 2016, following the creation of the splinter Bareun Party by former Saenuri members who distanced themselves from President Park Geun-hye in the 2016 South Korean political scandal.
Chung Mong-joon or Chung Mong Joon is a South Korean businessman and politician. He is the sixth son of Chung Ju-yung, founder of Hyundai, the second-largest South Korean chaebol before its breakup in 2003. He remains the controlling shareholder of a Hyundai offshoot, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, parent of the world's largest shipbuilding company. He is also the chairman of the board of the University of Ulsan and Ulsan College in Ulsan, South Korea. He is the founder and the honorary chairman of The Asan Institute for Policy Studies. He was vicepresident of FIFA and president of the South Korean football association.
The mayor of Seoul (Korean: 서울특별시장) is the chief executive of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul being the capital and largest city of South Korea.
Oh Se-hoon is a South Korean politician who is the current Mayor of Seoul since 8 April 2021. He also previously served as a member of the National Assembly from 2000 to 2004, and as Mayor of Seoul from 2006 to 2011. A member of the People Power Party (PPP), Oh is a lawyer by profession.
The New Progressive Party was a political party in South Korea. The New Progressive Party was established by a number of Democratic Labor Party members who left the party in reaction to the dominating Minjokhaebang factions.
The 2011 Seoul floods were a series of floods in late July 2011 caused by heavy rainfall around Seoul, South Korea. The intense rain triggered a series of flash floods and landslides that killed at least 49 people by July 27, leaving a total of more than 77 dead or missing. On July 27, the number of killed rose further to 69. The floods occurred primarily around the national capital Seoul and nearby Siheung regions. At least 86 power outages followed the landslides, affecting 125,000 people by July 27. Over 11,000 South Koreans were forced to evacuate.
The Lee Myung-bak government was the fifth government of the Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 presidential elections. Most of the new cabinet was approved by the National Assembly on 29 February. Led by President Lee Myung-bak, it was supported principally by the conservative Saenuri Party, previously known as the Grand National Party. It was also known as Silyong Jeongbu, the "pragmatic government", a name deriving from Lee's campaign slogan.
My Dear Desperado is a 2010 South Korean romantic comedy film written and directed by Kim Kwang-sik, and starring Park Joong-hoon and Jung Yu-mi as two people who become semi-basement one-room neighbors: brave yet jobless Se-jin and Dong-chul, the neighborhood gangster who always gets beaten up. The film received 688,832 admissions nationwide.
Na Kyung-won is a South Korean judge-turned-politician. She is a member of the conservative People Power Party, which is the main opposition party. She was a four-term member of the National Assembly and the first female floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party from December 2018 to December 2019.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2012. They were the sixth presidential elections since democratization and the establishment of the Sixth Republic, and were held under a first-past-the-post system, in which there was a single round of voting and the candidate receiving the highest number of votes was elected. Under the South Korean constitution, a president is restricted to a single five-year term in office. The term of the then incumbent president Lee Myung-bak ended on 24 February 2013. According to the Korea Times, 30.7 million people voted with turnout at 75.8%. Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri party was elected the first female South Korean president with 51.6% of the vote opposed to 48.0% for her opponent Moon Jae-in. Park's share of the vote was the highest won by any candidate since the beginning of free and fair direct elections in 1987 and the first such election in which any candidate won a majority. Moreover, as of the 2022 election, this is the latest South Korean presidential election in which the winning candidate won an absolute majority of the vote.
The two South Korean 2011 by-elections took place on April 27, 2011 in 38 electoral districts across the country and on October 26, 2011 in Seoul after Oh Se-hoon resigned due to his failure in the Seoul Free Lunch Referendum.
Park Young-sun is a South Korean journalist-turned politician previously served as the second Minister of SMEs and Startups under President Moon Jae-in from April 2019 to 2021 and the first woman to lead SME-specialised government entity since its creation in 1996. Park is also a four-term parliamentarian of Democratic Party.
Bad Guys is a 2014 South Korean television series starring Kim Sang-joong, Park Hae-jin, Ma Dong-seok, Jo Dong-hyuk and Kang Ye-won. It aired on OCN from October 4 to December 13, 2014, on Saturdays at 22:00 for 11 episodes.
The Liberty Korea Party held a leadership election on 27 February 2019 to elect the next leader of the Liberty Korea Party for a new 2-year term. It was an election to succeed an interim leader Kim Byong-joon, who has been in office for about seven months since the defeat of the Liberty Korea Party in the local elections held on 13 June 2018.
The 2011 Seoul mayoral by-election was held on 26 October 2011 after Oh Se-hoon resigned due to his failure in the Seoul Free Lunch Referendum. It was part of the by-elections in 2011.
Oh Shin-hwan is a South Korean former actor and conservative politician. Starting his career as an obscure actor in 1990s, he was elected as a Member of National Assembly for Gwanak 2nd constituency at the 2015 by-election, making him as the first conservative MP of the liberal-leaning constituency since its creation in 1988.
The Gihuminsaeng Party, formerly Minsaeng Party, is a conservative liberal political party in South Korea based in the Honam region.
Jeon Hae-cheol is a South Korean lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of the Interior and Safety from 2020 to 2022. He formerly served as the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs from 2006 to 2007, under the then President Roh Moo-hyun.
The 2021 South Korean by-elections were held in South Korea on 7 April 2021. The National Election Commission announced on 2 March 2021, that the by-elections would be held for 21 public offices or electoral districts, including 2 Metropolitan mayors, 2 Municipal mayors, 8 Metropolitan Council constituencies, and 9 Municipal Council constituencies. Candidate registration ran from 18 to 19 March, and the list of candidates was confirmed on 26 March.
SM F&B Development was a South Korean restaurant, franchising, food-importing, and wholesaling company under SM Entertainment. The company was established on January 22, 2008, and has previously operated the restaurant business E-Table, but eventually closed, Chi Mc, but the opening was revoked, and Podonamu in Tokyo for food and Hallyu promotions. It currently runs the casual dining and fine dining restaurant SMT House located in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, and has expansions in Tokyo and Los Angeles. As it sold all its assets, the company was eventually liquidated.