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Yang Hyang-ja

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Yang Hyang-ja
양향자
President of National Human Resource Management Institute
In office
31 August 2018 – 1 August 2019
PresidentMoon Jae-in
Prime MinisterLee Nak-yeon
Preceded byOh Dong-ho
Succeeded byPark Chun-ran
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 May 2020
Preceded byChun Jung-bae
ConstituencyGwangju Seo B
Personal details
Born (1967-04-04) 4 April 1967 (age 57)
Hwasun County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea
Political partyNew Reform
Other political
affiliations
Alma maternow-Cyber University of Korea
Sungkyunkwan University
Signature
In this Korean name, the family name is Yang.

Yang Hyang-ja (Korean: 양향자; Hanja: 梁香子; born 4 April 1967) is a South Korean politician and former Samsung executive. She has represented Gwangju at the National Assembly since 2020. A former member of the Democratic Party, she founded the Hope of Korea party in 2023.

Yang previously served as the president of the National Human Resource Management Institute (NHI) within the Ministry of Personnel Management under President Moon Jae-in from 2018 to 2019. She was the first woman to lead the Institute since the position was founded in the 1960s.[1]

Samsung Electronics

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After graduating from Gwangju Girls' Commercial High School, Yang went to Samsung Electronics at the age of 18 (or 19 in Korea) as an assistant to semiconductor memory researchers at the company. Since then she had worked for the company's departments related to memory semi-conductors for over three decades. In 2014 she was promoted to the executive for its flash memory development becoming its first female executive without higher education,[2] from Honam region and one-year earlier than her co-workers.

Yang completed tertiary education while working at Samsung. She earned a bachelor's degree from now-Cyber University of Korea, which was co-founded by Samsung in 2000, in 2005 and masters from Sungkyunkwan University, which has close partnerships with Samsung, in 2008.[3]

Political career

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Yang was recruited by then-party leader Moon Jae-in in late 2015. She resigned from Samsung in December 2015 for her political career which began in 2016 when she officially became member of Democratic Party and later nominee for Gwangju constituency at the 2016 general election. After losing her election, Yang continued her commitment to politics. She was one of five elected members of Supreme Council of party for two years before resigning for the president of the NHI in August 2018.[4][5] After serving as the first woman president of the NHI for a year, she resigned for the upcoming 2020 election.[6]

In 2020 general election, Yang defeated six-term parliamentarian Chun Jung-bae becoming the only woman representing a district in Honam region.[7] She is expected to join her party's Supreme Council again as she is the only woman running for this post and at least one woman should be elected.[8] In August 2020 she re-joined the Supreme Council receiving fifth most votes.[9]

In September newly elected leader of her party, Lee Nak-yon, appointed Yang and Han Jeoung-ae as the co-deputy chair of party's K-New Deal Committee led by party floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon.[10] From September she also chairs party's task force for economy and people's livelihood.[11]

On 15 July 2021, Yang was expelled from the Democratic Party for her handling of sexual misconduct in her office. A female employee of Yang's regional office in Gwangju complained of sexual harassment by Yang's cousin, who also worked at the office. Yang then inflicted second punishment by gaslighting the victim, ignoring the complaints, and denying the situation in interviews.[12]

In June 2023, Yang introduced the launch of her own political party, Hope of Korea. Yang has urged the United States to abandon its global semiconductor industry policies.[13]

Electoral history

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Election Year District Party Affiliation Votes Percentage of votes Results
20th National Assembly General Election 2016 Gwangju Seo B Democratic Party 24,603 31.5% Lost
21st National Assembly General Election 2020 Gwangju Seo B Democratic Party 61,279 75.83% Won

Published works

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Yang's biography, Fly Towards Dream Beyond Dream, Hyang-ja[14]

References

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  1. ^ "역대원장" [List of President of the Institute] (in Korean).
  2. ^ "[ELECTION 2016] Parties try to add diversity to election rosters". The Korea Herald. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  3. ^ "[프로필] 양향자 신임 국가공무원인재개발원장". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  4. ^ "양향자 전 최고위원, 18일 서구을 예비후보 등록…5.18묘지 참배". 이뉴스투데이 (in Korean). 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  5. ^ tf.co.kr (2019-11-29). "[TF기획-문재인 키즈③] 양향자 "다시 영입해주시면 안될까요^^"". 더팩트 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  6. ^ "New public servants training chief appointed". The Korea Times. 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  7. ^ "'강원·충청·호남·영남·제주' 유일 與 여성의원, 양향자의 정치". the300 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  8. ^ 김, 동호 (2020-07-24). "與 최고위원 예선서 이재정 탈락…양향자 선출확정(종합)". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  9. ^ "[속보]민주당 최고위원, 김종민 염태영 노웅래 신동근 양향자". The Financial News (in Korean). 2020-08-29. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  10. ^ "'이낙연 체제' 與 실무당직 인사…청와대 출신 인사 전진배치". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). 2020-09-09. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  11. ^ "민주, 권력기관·정치개혁 TF 구성…"현안 신속 대응"". 매일경제 (in Korean). 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  12. ^ "DP decides to expel sitting lawmaker over sexual abuse allegations against former aide". 12 July 2021.
  13. ^ Davies, Christian; Song, Jung-a (2023-08-06). "South Korean politician urges US to abandon China chip strategy". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
  14. ^ Yang, Hyangja (2018). Kkum neomeo kkum eul hyanghae nalja, Hyangja. Seoul: Bitabeata. ISBN 9791157061129. OCLC 1077383238.
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