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Cho Kuk
Cho Kuk (Korean: 조국; born 6 April 1965) is a South Korean politician who served as a member of the National Assembly of South Korea from May to December 2024, when he lost his seat following the Supreme Court of Korea's decision to uphold his two-year prison sentence for document falsification. He is the founder of the Rebuilding Korea Party.
Cho previously served as a senior presidential aide for civil affairs under the cabinet of Moon Jae-in from May 2017 to July 2019. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Justice, a position he held from September 2019 until his resignation on 14 October 2019 due to his involvement in a series of controversies, including allegations of corruption surrounding his family's business activities.
In 2023, Cho was convicted of falsifying documents in connection with his children's college admissions and sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2024, the South Korea Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' ruling, effectively disqualifying him from his seat in the 22nd National Assembly of South Korea and barring him from running for office for five years.
He was pardoned by President Lee Jae Myung on 11 August 2025, restoring his eligibility to run for office again.
Cho was born in Seo District, Busan, South Korea in 1965, as the eldest son of the ex-Director of Ungdong Middle School Cho Byun-hyun (died in 2013), and his wife and the current Director of the institute, Park Jung-sook.
He attended Gudeok Elementary School in Busan, then moved to Seoul and studied at Daesin Middle School. After he returned to Busan, he finished his secondary education at Hyekwang High School. Cho earned bachelor's and master's degrees in law from Seoul National University, and a doctoral degree (J.S.D) from the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford and University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
Cho was previously a lecturer in law at the University of Ulsan from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2000, then at Dongguk University from 2000 to 2001, and later at Seoul National University—where he had earned his bachelor's degree—from 2001 to 2004. While at Seoul National University, he was promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer (2004–2009), then to full professor in 2009.
Cho showed interest in politics at the end of the 1980s, while studying at university. During this time, he was already a member of the South Korean Socialist Workers' Alliance, along with Rhyu Si-min and Eun Soo-mi. Cho was detained due to his activities, under breach of the National Security Act, and declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Later, he criticised the National Security Act as a "barbaric law" in his book titled For the Freedom of Conscience and Ideology.
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Cho Kuk
Cho Kuk (Korean: 조국; born 6 April 1965) is a South Korean politician who served as a member of the National Assembly of South Korea from May to December 2024, when he lost his seat following the Supreme Court of Korea's decision to uphold his two-year prison sentence for document falsification. He is the founder of the Rebuilding Korea Party.
Cho previously served as a senior presidential aide for civil affairs under the cabinet of Moon Jae-in from May 2017 to July 2019. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Justice, a position he held from September 2019 until his resignation on 14 October 2019 due to his involvement in a series of controversies, including allegations of corruption surrounding his family's business activities.
In 2023, Cho was convicted of falsifying documents in connection with his children's college admissions and sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2024, the South Korea Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' ruling, effectively disqualifying him from his seat in the 22nd National Assembly of South Korea and barring him from running for office for five years.
He was pardoned by President Lee Jae Myung on 11 August 2025, restoring his eligibility to run for office again.
Cho was born in Seo District, Busan, South Korea in 1965, as the eldest son of the ex-Director of Ungdong Middle School Cho Byun-hyun (died in 2013), and his wife and the current Director of the institute, Park Jung-sook.
He attended Gudeok Elementary School in Busan, then moved to Seoul and studied at Daesin Middle School. After he returned to Busan, he finished his secondary education at Hyekwang High School. Cho earned bachelor's and master's degrees in law from Seoul National University, and a doctoral degree (J.S.D) from the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford and University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
Cho was previously a lecturer in law at the University of Ulsan from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2000, then at Dongguk University from 2000 to 2001, and later at Seoul National University—where he had earned his bachelor's degree—from 2001 to 2004. While at Seoul National University, he was promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer (2004–2009), then to full professor in 2009.
Cho showed interest in politics at the end of the 1980s, while studying at university. During this time, he was already a member of the South Korean Socialist Workers' Alliance, along with Rhyu Si-min and Eun Soo-mi. Cho was detained due to his activities, under breach of the National Security Act, and declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Later, he criticised the National Security Act as a "barbaric law" in his book titled For the Freedom of Conscience and Ideology.