Ahn Hee-jung


Ahn Hee-jung, also known as An Hee-jung, is a South Korean former politician. He served as the 36th and 37th Governor of South Chungcheong Province. He stepped down from his role as governor and announced his retirement from public life after acknowledging accusations that he sexually assaulted his aide Kim Ji-eun on multiple occasions. In February 2019, he was sentenced to a three and a half year prison term for sexual assault.

Early life and education

Ahn Hee-jung was born in Yeonmu County, Nonsan City, South Chungcheong Province on 1 May 1965, as the third of five children. He dropped out of Namdaejeon High School in Daejeon due to his involvement in the Pyeongcheonha Incident in which he was caught reading Pyeongcheonha, an anti-regime newspaper published by Lee Chan-koo. The underground newspaper which was on a banned list was handed over by the owner of Jaeil Bookstore at the corner of Daejeon Downtown District. Even though he was transferred to Seongnam High School in Daebang-dong, Seoul, he decided to quit school.
After partaking in demonstrations staged against Kookpoong 81, he decided to go to university thinking university entrance would give him the leverage to actively participate in pro-democracy student protests. Aiming at university entrance, Ahn first passed the qualification exam and after passing it, he was admitted to Korea University in 1983. Since he entered university, he actively organized the Korea University Patriotic Students Association by merging fourteen student clubs of Korea University.
In 1998, he was arrested by the Agency for National Security Planning and was imprisoned for 10 months after being convicted of the involvement in the youth-led rallies motivated by anti-American sentiment.

First roles in politics

Starting from January 1989, Ahn Hee-jung worked as an aide to lawmaker Kim Deok-ryong of the Reunification Democratic Party. On 1 January 1990, Kim Young-sam led the three-party-merger supported by seven political leaders: Lee Ki-taek; Kim Jeong-gil; Jang Seok-hwa; Park Chan-jong; Hong Sa-deok; Lee Chul and Roh Moo-hyun. However, Ahn did not join the move as he was against the three-party-merger in principle so instead he led the efforts to establish a new democratic party in 1990. The eighteen members of the Reunification Democratic Party including Ahn Hee-jung chose to remain in the newly established democratic party.
He also worked as secretary to Director-General Lee Chul. As he became disillusioned with the negative sides of politics, he made his mind to quit politics. To further reflect on his decision, he chose to do daywork at the construction site of the Changwon Labor Welfare Center for two months. After lawmaker Lee Chul took victory at the general election, he resigned as secretary and quit politics on 4 April 1992.

Return to politics

After quitting politics, he started new career as a sales manager of a publishing company. As he was disappointed by lack of conviction amongst the existing politicians, he returned to Korea University to continue his study for a new opportunity. Meanwhile, with Lee Kwang-jae, he worked as Director General of the Local Autonomy Affairs Research Institute in June 1994, to support presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun, who lost in the 1992 general election. While working as a political aide to Roh Moo-hyun, the presidential candidate of the New Millennium Democratic Party, who won the presidential election in 2002, Ahn Hee-jung was credited for the successful campaign.
In December 2003, he and Yeom Dong-yeon were indicted for receiving illegal campaign contributions from several businessmen. He was found guilty in an appeal court in September 2004 and was sentenced to one year in prison serving his term at the Seoul Detention Center. Ahn was concerned that his conviction might do harm to the President and declined any political titles during the participatory government to keep a distance from the politics.

Return to party

While looking for a job after his sentence, Ahn found himself rejected many times. However, with the permission of Chairman Kang Geum-won he took an advisory position at Changshin Textile. In 2007, Kang nominated Ahn as the chairman of the standing committee which organized the Participatory Government Evaluation Forum. The following year, he made a vow to follow the political beliefs of two former Presidents: Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, and was elected as an executive committee member of the United Democratic Party. After being elected, he took a leading role in establishing the Better Democracy Research Institute which inherited the functions of the Local Autonomy Affairs Research Institute.
Ahn won the governorship of South Chungcheong Province against Park Sang-don of the Liberty Forward Party by a margin of 2.4 percent in the fifth local election held on 2 June 2010. As a candidate of the Democratic Party, he who was known for his inclination toward political reform won the local election for the first time as a liberal party candidate in the conservative voting region, whose victory was deemed a proof of his overcoming regional sentiments and made many people consider him as a future presidential hopeful.
Ahn was re-elected to the position of the 37th Governor of South Chungcheong Province in 2014.
ElectionProvinceParty AffiliationPctVotesResult
5th Local ElectionChungcheongnamMinjoo Party42.2%367,288Elected
6th Local ElectionChungcheongnamNew Politics Alliance for Democracy52.21%465,994Elected

2017 presidential campaign

Ahn was considered the main darkhorse contender to be the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential nominee against frontrunner Moon Jae-in. His primary appeal was mainly as a young center-left candidate who was socially and economically liberal but held a centrist stance on issues of national security.
After finishing behind Moon and endorsing his party's candidate, polls showed that most of Ahn's original supporters started supporting People's Party nominee Ahn Cheol-soo. As runner up to eventual winner President Moon, Ahn was considered an heir to as a leading party candidate for the following presidential election in 2022.

Sexual assault

On 5 March 2018, Ahn's secretary Kim Ji-eun stated during a live interview with the news channel JTBC that she had been sexually assaulted by Ahn and raped four times over eight months. She revealed there were other victims in the Governor's office.
In an emergency session of the Party leadership the very same day, Ahn was expelled from the Democratic Party. Subsequently, Ahn resigned from his position as governor, stating that he admits the charges and apologizes to the victims of the assault.
On 10 March 2018, Ahn Hee-jung was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly sexually assaulting Kim. He denied the alleged sexual assault and claimed it was consensual.
On 14 August 2018, Seoul Western District Court found Ahn not guilty. The decision sparked controversy, as protesters gathered the following weekend. Critics of the ruling claimed that the court, which cited a lack of evidence, took a "blame the victim" approach. Some also expressed concern that the decision showed a lack of progress of the Me Too movement and women's rights in South Korea.
On 1 February 2019, the Seoul High Court overturned his acquittal by the Seoul Western District Court and jailed Ahn for three and a half years on charges of repeatedly raping his former aide Kim Ji-eun. The presiding judge Hong Dong-ki stated that it seemed "evident that Ahn was aware of the power imbalance between him and Kim" and that "Kim's testimonies consistent and with those of other witnesses."