Kim Hyong-o

National Assembly Speaker

Date of Birth: 1947

The January trip to North Africa of South Korea’s Kim Hyong-o served two main objectives – to promote trade and to lay the groundwork for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2014-15. Seoul is keen, too, to spread its version of parliamentary democracy in Africa.

In Morocco, Kim met Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, President of the Chambre des Conseillers. He proffered cautious praise for Morocco’s efforts on Western Sahara, even as Human Rights Watch was criticising the continued suppression of advocates of independence for the territory. Kim later flew to Tunisia to meet Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane and the President of the Chambre des Députés, Foued Mebazaa.

Born in 1947, Kim began his career as a journalist on the Dong-a Ilbo (East Asia Daily) from 1975 to 1978. He spent four years as a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, a think tank run by the Foreign Ministry, before joining the President’s Office in 1982. There, he served the authoritarian Chun Doo-hwan and the reform-minded Roh Tae-woo – who became the first popularly elected president – until 1990.

In 1992, Kim made his first successful run for the Assembly and he has held a seat there ever since. A determined rise through the ranks of the Grand National Party led to a number of top roles. Kim was Secretary General in 2004-05, Floor Leader in 2006-07 and became Speaker in 2008. The Assembly is the setting for lively political theatre, complete with sit-ins and brawls. During Kim’s tenure, he has incurred the wrath of GNP elders for brokering compromises with the opposition Democratic Party rather than using his power to push through GNP initiatives.