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Choi Jae-cheon (born November 19, 1963) is an attorney and a politician in South Korea. He was elected a member of the National Assembly from Seongdong-gu, Seoul in 2004 and was a member of the Democratic Party (Uridang) from 2004 to 2008.

After graduating in law at Chonnam National University in February 1986, he passed the 29th judicial examination in 1987 and completed the whole course of the Judicial Research and Training Institute in February 1990. He then served as a military judicial officer from 1990 to 1993. He obtained a master's degree in law at the Chonnam National University in February 1993 and a Ph.D. from the same university in February 2000.

He opened a law office at Seoul in March 1993, and founded the Han-gang Law Corporation in March 2003. After he was elected as the 17th lawmaker of Uridang (in 2004, he served as a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Intelligence Committee, the Foreign affairs, Trade & Unification Committee, and the Food, Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries Committee. He also worked as a spokesman of a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party from October to December 2007.

Currently he is a representative of the Han-gang Law Corporation and writes a regular column on the Oh My News website.

[His views on Korea-US FTA]

"It was the result of such a unilateral and behind the door negotiation which was purely based on the political calculation. Democratic decision making system was lost along the way". "I can't understand why Korean government had to be in a hurry to give in to the unfair and even humiliating conditions from the US. It's time that Korean government seriously reconsiders its current position on this one-sided agreement"

[Relationship between the two Koreas]

He is in favor of “the peace process” on the Korean Peninsula. He calls for more flexible and reconcilable policy for the North, the main focal point of the “Sunshine Policy” by the former president Kim Dae Jung. He denounces the North Korea policy of the current government saying it is threatening the outcomes (such as the June 15 joint declaration and Oct 4 declaration)of the longtime peace process in Korea.

[US-Korea alliance]

He also puts stress on the matters including US strategic flexibility, the division of Korean defense budget, and relocation of US bases in Korea. Highlighting the implications between the first and the third issues, he demands systematic and logical national responses.

[Civil rights]

He has much interest in the issues of human rights and the freedom of expression. He takes a stand against the recent series of events (the on-line blogger Minerva's trial and the arrest of 'PD Notebook' producers, and the recent move from the department of National Defence to announce the list of forbidden books. "Under whatever circumstances, basic human rights should be respected and protected. There should be no boundaries to keep people from having access to it.

[Education]

He takes a critical point of view about Korea's education reality represented by private education, pre-study, and enthusiasm for prestigious universities. "The current educational system in Korea is totally focused on entering the so called elite universities. Education from elementary to high school takes the shape of a puppet of that of university. Regretfully it doesn't have any value whatsoever other than that."

[Economy]

Another main interests of his are job creation, the issues of the self-employed and irregular and temporary workers, and the stimulus package for small and medium sized companies. He believes that the current economic policy based on conglomerates has damaged the self-employed the most, the symbol of the domestic consumption. His answers to the matters are to have the self-employed buy employment insurance, delay their debt repayment, and create some financial policy to keep those from going bankrupt in times of temporary economic crisis. He also highlights the importance of support packages for small firms which takes up almost 90% of the local job market rebuking the government policy to increase irregular and temporary workforce such as internship. "Today Korea's labor policy is drifting away. The government is preventing non-regular workers from climbing up to the status of regular workforce by lengthening their period to 4years leading them to be another fixed working class in Korean society. Also, by introducing regional minimum wage system, it is also creating havoc with the already fragile system."

[edit] External links

• [www.e-sotong.com Sotong & Ban-eung website]
• [blog.ohmynews.com/cjc4u Choi Jae-cheon's "Sisa-cubism" blog]