Moon is a child of North Korean parents who settled in the South during the 1950-53 Korean war<\/b>
\nMoon Jae-in, who won Tuesday\u2019s South Korean presidential election, has led a life as turbulent as that of the nation he will lead. The son of refugees who fled North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, Moon, 64, grew up in poverty and spent time in jail for protesting military-backed dictators. Moon later became a human rights lawyer and worked for the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, a friend and mentor who eventually committed suicide. \u201cI will become the president of all the people, \u201d he said, vowing to \u201cnever forget people\u2019s wishes and aspirations.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a great victory by a great people, \u201d Moon told crowd of party officials and fervent supporters who celebrated his win. \u201cI\u2019 ll gather all of my energy to build a new nation.\u201d Moon\u2019s North Korean parents resettled in South Korea\u2019s southeast before he was born in January 1953. They initially lived in a POW camp. As a boy, he often went to a Catholic church with a bucket to get free US corn flour and milk powder. After entering Seoul\u2019s\u2019 Kyung Hee University in 1972, Moon joined a pro-democracy movement to topple the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea for 18 years until his 1979 assassination. Park is the father of recently ousted conservative President Park Geun-hye, who was driven from power by a corruption scandal. In 1975, Moon was jailed for months for staging anti-government protests before being conscripted into the military\u2019s special forces. Moon became a lawyer and joined Roh\u2019s law office in the early 1980s. They defended the rights of poor labourers and student activists until Roh entered politics in 1988. Moon says their friendship changed his life. After Roh became president in 2003, Moon became what local media called Moon\u2019s \u201cKing secretary\u201d or \u201cRoh Moo-hyun\u2019s shadow.\u201d When Roh was impeached in 2004 over alleged election law violations, Moon served as a defence lawyer before a court restored Roh\u2019s presidential power. After Roh left office and faced a corruption investigation, Moon was his lawyer. Roh jumped to his death in May 2009. Moon says Roh\u2019s death led him to politics. Moon lost the 2012 election to Park Geun-hye by a million votes. When a corruption scandal involving Park flared last fall, Moon saw his popularity rise amid massive public outrage toward her conservative government. \u201cI hope today becomes the day to open the door for a new Republic of Korea, \u201d Moon told the jubilant party officials and supporters after visiting the party\u2019s main office.<\/p>\n

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