Lee In-je

In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Lee In-je (Korean: 이인제; born 11 December 1948) is a South Korean politician and a former judge.^[1]

Lee In-je
이인제
Governor of Gyeonggi Province
In office 1 July 1995 – 18 September 1997
Preceded by	Lee Hae-jae
Succeeded by	Im su-bok (acting)
Member of the National Assembly
In office 30 May 1988 – 7 June 1995
In office 30 May 2000 – 29 May 2016
Minister of Labor
In office 26 February 1993 – 21 December 1993
Personal details
Born	(1948-12-11) 11 December 1948 (age 76) Nonsan, South Korea
Political party	Reunification Democratic (1987–1990) Democratic Liberal (1990–1995) New Korea (1995–1997) National Congress (1998–2000) Democratic (2000–2002, 2007–2008) United Democratic (2008) Independent (2008–2011) Liberty Korea (2012–2020) People Power (2020-present)
Other political affiliations	New People's (1997–1998) United Liberal Democrats (2002–2005) People First (2005–2007) Liberty Forward (2011–2012)
Spouse	Kim Eun-sook
Alma mater	Seoul National University

Lee In-je
Hangul	이인제
Hanja	李仁濟
RR	I Inje
MR	I Inje

Political career

He was born in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province and graduated from Seoul National University. In 1988, he entered politics after having been elected to the National Assembly. He also served as the first Minister of Labor in President Kim Young-sam's administration in 1993, and the governor of Gyeonggi Province from 1995 to 1997.

In 1997, he was defeated by Lee Hoi-chang in the New Korea Party's election to choose its presidential candidate. Afterwards, he resigned from the party to create the New People's Party to launch his ultimately unsuccessful run for the presidency. In 2002, he was one of the leading contenders to run for president as the nominee of the Millennium Democratic Party but resigned after being defeated by the ultimate presidential victor Roh Moo-hyun. In 2007, Rhee again ran for president as the nominee of the Democratic Party but was defeated by Grand National Party candidate Lee Myung-bak. He has stayed active in politics and in July 2014 was elected to the Supreme Council of Saenuri Party, then ruling party of the Republic of Korea.^[2] He has a special nickname: Phoenikje [a combination of Phoenix and (Rhee in) JE]. The nickname derives from his ability to change political party affiliation 16 times^[3] and be elected to the National Assembly a total of six times despite numerous past defeats in presidential elections and the fall of his affiliated parties.^[4] He ran for governor of South Chungcheong Province in the 2018 local elections but lost to Yang Seung-jo of the Democratic Party of Korea.