Ha Tae-keung


Ha Tae-keung is South Korean activist and politician serving as a member of National Assembly in Haeundae 1st constituency. He served as one of Vice Presidents in Bareun Party, then Bareunmirae Party. He is now one of the co-Presidents of the New Conservative Party.

Biography

Born at Busan in 1968, Ha used to be a democratic activist under the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan. During the early 1990s, he was also one of the members of National University Students Association, along with Lim Soo-kyung and Im Jong-seok. Ha was detained in 1991 due to the breach of National Security Act. He returned to his activist career after released in 1993.
During the 2000s, Ha was interested with North Korean human rights, and involved into the related activities.

Political career

Ha entered Grand National Party, later Saenuri Party, in 2011, and was elected as a MP just after a year. He was re-elected in 2016.
During the political scandal in 2016, Ha left Saenuri and formed Bareun party along with other Saenuri's dissidents. He ran for the party's presidency in May 2017, but lost to Lee Hye-hoon. Instead, he was elected for vice presidency. After Kim Se-yeon left the party, Ha became the party's sole Busan MP.
Ha ran for Bareunmirae's presidency during the leadership election in September 2018. He came to 2nd and lost to Sohn Hak-kyu, instead, he became one of Vice Presidents.

Political positions

Ha is politically "centre-right" who opposes extremist politics, including both far-left and far-right. He spoke up for the dissolution of "far-right" Liberty Korea Party, like the banning of "far-left" Unified Progressive Party. He also condemned Bareun MPs who returned to LKP.
Ha is also an opponent of Japanophobia, and criticised anti-Japan movement during the mid of 2019. However, there is also criticism that some of his political moves are populist. In fact, he once made remarks in 2014 defending Ilbe Storehouse.

Election results

General elections