Han Sun-kyo is a South Korean former broadcaster and politician, who was the Member of National Assembly from 2004 to 2020. He was also the President of the Future Korea Party from February to March 2020. Prior to his political career, he worked as a newsreader of MBC from 1984 to 1995. He was also the Chairman of the Korean Basketball League from 2011 to 2014.
Han entered to MBC in 1984 and was selected as a newsreader, in which he served till 1995 when he quitted the company and became a freelancer. He joined a 50-day strike in 1992 held by MBC trade union to against the company's pro-Democratic Liberal Party stance. While at MBC, he also worked as a basketball stadium announcer. Han was also the 1st emcee of Good Morning from 1996 to 2004 but retired as a broadcaster in 2004 to join politics. In 2011, he was elected as the Chairman of the Korean Basketball League, defeating the incumbent Chun Yook. In fact, he announced his bid in 2008 but lost to Chun.
Political career
Prior to the 2004 election, Han announced his bid for running as a MP on 31 December 2003, and joined the Grand National Party in January 2004. He was selected as the GNP candidate for Yongin 2nd constituency, and won with a majority of 25,319 votes. Shortly after this, he was appointed as the party's co-spokesperson but resigned after 3 months. A pro-Park Geun-hye figure, Han contested GNP preselection for Suji District in 2008 but lost to Yoon Gun-young. He subsequently left the party and contested as an independent candidate, instead of joining the Pro-Park Alliance. He returned to GNP after his re-election. Han contested for newly-formed Yongin 3rd constituency in 2012 and defeated the Democratic Unionist Party candidate Kim Jong-hui with a majority of 11,486 votes. Shortly after the re-election in 2016, he contested as the Saenuri president but received 9.9% and came to the last. Prior to the 2017 presidential election, 13 Bareun Party MPs announced their return to the Liberty Korea Party. Han showed his opposition of it, adding that he would leave if the party accepts all of them. Nevertheless, he did not quit his party. He unsuccessfully contested as the party's parliamentary leader in December 2017. On 4 March 2019, Han was appointed as the Secretary-General of the LKP by the newly-elected President Hwang Kyo-ahn. However, he stepped down on 17 June due to the "health reasons", but later Nocut News reported that he experienced discords with Hwang. On 5 February 2020, Han was elected as the President of the newly-formed Future Korea Party, a party that was often regarded to be formed as the satellite party to the Liberty Korea Party. However, he stepped down from the party presidency due to conflicts with the UFP with issues regarding candidate preselection for upcoming general election.
On 26 April 2012, it was reported that Han was sharing a Renault Samsung SM7, in which the driver was under influence and hit a 20-year-old girl on a pedestrian crossing. The driver, however, immediately ran away from the place and when caught by police, she had a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.128%, which can lead to driving licence revocation. The GyeonggiDemocraticUnionist Party filed a lawsuit against him under the breach of electoral law, adding that Han and the driver was having a party celebrating his re-election as a MP. Han explained that the driver was helping him to bring him to a taxi rank, so he felt sorry to reject it.
Collar grab
On 1 September 2016, Han provoked a controversy when he grabbed the Speaker's guard by a collar who was preventing journalists from entering to the Speaker's office. 4 days later, he visited the guard and apologised to him. After he was prosecuted by police on the same day, he was supposed to visit police office but absented due to the parliamentary inspection.
On 13 October 2016, Han again provoked a controversy during the inspection of the Committee of Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism, when he forwarded a question to an opposition Democratic MP Yoo Eun-hae. He was asking Yoo a question, "Why are you laughing? Do you like me?", in which Yoo subsequently urged Han to sincerely apologise. Han replied that he was asking the question as her senior, but Yoo condemned that Han's remark was "such a disgusting sexual harassment". Han also added, "I'm her senior, and that's why I didn't realise for a while.", where Yoo criticised, "It was an inspection, and it's such an insult to ask like that." Yu Sung-yup, the Committee chairman, commented that any kind of controversial remarks should be avoided. Another Democratic MP, Nam In-soon, posted on her Twitter that calling Han's remark as "slut-shaming". The Democratic Party filed a report against him to the Ethics Committee, while also urging the Saenuri Party to take a suitable action against him.
Insulting remarks to the Secretariat
On 7 May 2019, it was reported that Han was insulting during the meeting with the party's secretariat. Oh Young-cheol, the Convener of the Secretariat Trade Union, explained that Han used several vulgars to the workers and asked them to get out. The trade union condemned his remarks and urged him to apologise.
Personal life
Han married to Ha Ji-hyun, who was also a broadcaster of MBC. Both has two daughters — Han Hui-seung and Han Hui-min.
