Joo Ho-young


Joo Ho-young is a South Korean judge and politician who served as the interim Chairman of the conservative United Future Party in May 2020. He has been the incumbent Member of the National Assembly for Suseong 1st constituency since 2020; before that, he represented for 2nd constituency from 2004 to 2020. He was the Minister for Special Affairs under the President Lee Myung-bak from 2009 to 2010.

Early life and education

Born in Uljin, Joo attended to Neungin High School. He studied law in Yeungnam University.

Career

After qualifying for the bar in 1982, Joo worked as a judge for 19 years.
He was firstly elected to the National Assembly in 2004 election. He served as the parliamentary leader of the Grand National Party from 2006 to 2007. Following his re-election in 2008 election, he was appointed the Minister for Special Affairs.
On 18 July 2016, Joo announced he would run as the party Chairperson for the upcoming leadership election. He lost to Lee Jung-hyun.
Following the political scandal, Joo left the Saenuri Party along with other dissidents. He was elected the parliamentary leader of the newly-formed Bareun Party but in November 2017, he announced his departure in order to join the Liberty Korea Party along with other 8 MPs. He, however, remained till his term as a parliamentary leader ended.
In 2020 election, Joo switched to Suseong 1st constituency, where the incumbent is Kim Boo-kyum. He defeated the Democratic candidate and the former Minister of the Interior and Safety. He is now considered as a potential candidate for the President of the United Future Party, following the resignation of Hwang Kyo-ahn due to the election suffer.
On 4 May 2020, Joo launched his bid for the UFP's parliamentary leader. 4 days later, he was elected the parliamentary leader of the UFP, as well as the party's interim President where the position has been vacant since 15 April.
On 15 June, Joo announced his resignation as the UFP parliamentary leader following the Democratic Party's decision to take 6 parliamentary committes without dividing with opposition parties. He harshly criticised that the ruling Democratic Party is going to the one-party dictatorship. However, sources reported that almost all UFP MPs oppose his resignation.

Personal life

He married to Kim Sun-hui and has 2 sons. He is a Buddhist.
His father, Joo Koo-won, died on 9 May 2020, the day after his election as the UFP parliamentary leader.
On 13 March 1998, he suffered a skull fracture following a traffic collision. From a 13-hour surgery, he could barely survive.

Election results

General elections