SDF

Keum Taesup graduated from Seoul National University School of Law. Upon passing the national bar exam, he worked as a researcher for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office and then a prosecutor for the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office. It was as a career prosecutor that he began writing what was supposed to be a regular column in the daily newspaper The Hankyoreh, offering guidance on how to exercise one’s legal rights when subjected to investigation. When a fierce backlash ensued from higher-ups within his own office, Taesup was forced to discontinue his column and eventually resigned, leaving behind what had till then been his life’s passion.

Taesup went on to join the NGO Lawyers for a Democratic Society, known in Korean as MINBYUN, becoming one of very few participants with a background as a former prosecutor. He also served as a radio and TV show host and published several books, including Hwaksinui hamjeong (The Perils of Certainty) and Dikeui nun (The Eyes of Lady Justice). In 2011, Taesup officially entered politics, accepting an invitation from then Seoul mayoral candidate (and current third-term mayor) Park Won-soon to serve as his campaign advisor.

In 2016, Taesup was elected to the National Assembly in the Gangseo-gu Gap electoral district. He subsequently served key roles within his party, the Minjoo Party (Democratic Party of Korea), including senior director of strategy and official spokesperson. In his capacity as a ruling party member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, he has tackled government corruption and worked to provide legislative support for the policies of the Moon Jae-in administration.

As a lawmaker, Taesup’s chief aim is prosecutorial reform. He is a vocal proponent of releted measures to separate the investigative powers of the prosecutors and the police and establish an independent law enforcement body to investigate and indict high-ranking government officials. In his commitment to progress on this front, he is very much the same man he was back in 2006 – the prosecutor willing to take action, and wield his pen, for his convictions. To this day, Taesup lives by a simple motto: “Say what needs to be said.”