Sim Sang-jung

Sim Sang-jung (born 20 February 1959) is a South Korean politician. She was one of the five major presidential candidates in the 2017 South Korean presidential election, running as the Justice Party's nominee.
She is currently a member of the 21st National Assembly and was the leader of the Justice Party from 2015 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020.
Education and early career.
Sim obtained her bachelor's degree in education from Seoul National University. She switched degrees from history, with the aspiration to become a history teacher.
At the age of 21, she worked at a cassette tape factory where her days as a labor rights activist began. Sim was subsequently fired for mobilizing workers to demand higher wages and better meals. She "hopped from job to job" to earn a wage but continued her labor activism. In 1985, she was on the country's most wanted list for instigating labor strikes. She was on the list for 9 years, and married her husband, a fellow activist, during that time. She was formally charged for 'instigation of mass harm' and 'instigation of arson', and was sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment, but a 2-year suspended sentence, soon after she became pregnant.
Political career.
Sim is a major political leader for the left progressive faction in South Korean politics. She is a three-term lawmaker in the National Assembly, former leader of the Democratic Labor Party, the former co-founder of the New Progressive Party, and the former co-founder and leader of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP).
Sim was first elected as a proportional representative in the 17th National Assembly under the Democratic Labor Party. She won her first direct election in the 19th National Assembly as a member of the UPP with 49.37% of the votes in an area of Gyeonggi Goyang in 2012.
Following the disintegration of the Unified Progressive Party after the Park Geun-hye government's petition to the Constitutional Court of Korea for the UPP's alleged pro-North Korean views in 2013, Sim help found and is the current leader of the Justice Party. Sim won another seat in the 20th National Assembly in 2016, again in an area of Goyang with 53% of the vote. In the 2020 election, she defeated Moon Myung-soon from Democratic Party and Lee Kyung-hwan from now-PPP becoming the first four-term parliamentarian from a progressive party in Korea.
Political positions.
Economy.
Her economic positions reflect the progressive platform of her party. This includes reforming "chaebols" (Korean conglomerates) so that hereditary succession is banned, and giving a one-time grant of $8,700 to every person who turns 20 to reduce increasing wealth inequality.
Social issues.
Sim was the only major presidential candidate to openly support LGBT rights in South Korea.
National security.
Sim opposes the deployment of THAAD, a U.S. anti ballistics missile defense system, and supports a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.