Kweon Seong-dong

Kweon Seong-dong
권성동
Kweon in 2025
Member of the National Assembly
for Gangneung
In office
29 October 2009 – 16 July 2026
Preceded byChoi Wook-chul
Party leadership offices
Leader of the People Power Party
Acting
11 May 2025 – 15 May 2025
Preceded byKwon Young-se
Succeeded byKim Yong-tae
Acting
16 December 2024 – 30 December 2024
Preceded byHan Dong-hoon
Succeeded byKwon Young-se
Acting
26 August 2022 – 8 September 2022
Preceded byJoo Ho-young (ERC)
Succeeded byChung Jin-suk (ERC)
Acting
8 July 2022 – 9 August 2022
Preceded byLee Jun-seok
Succeeded byJoo Ho-young (ERC)
Floor Leader of the People Power Party
In office
8 April 2022 – 19 September 2022
Preceded byKim Gi-hyeon
Succeeded byJoo Ho-young
In office
12 December 2024 – 5 June 2025
Preceded byChoo Kyung-ho
Succeeded byPark Hyeong-su (acting)
Secretary-General of the People Power Party
In office
18 November 2021 – 5 January 2022
PresidentLee Jun-seok
Preceded byHan Ki-ho
Succeeded byKwon Yeong-se
Secretary-General of the Saenuri Party
In office
2 June 2016 – 23 June 2016
Preceded byHwang Jin-ha
Hong Moon-pyo (acting)
Succeeded byPark Myung-jae
Personal details
Born (1960-04-29) 29 April 1960
Gangneung, South Korea
PartyIndependent (since 2026)
Other political
affiliations
GNP (2009–2012)
Saenuri (2012–2016)
Independent (2016–2017)
Bareun (2017)
Independent (2017)
Liberty Korea (2017–2020)
UFP (2020)
Independent (2020)
People Power (2020–2026)
SpouseKim Jin-hee
Children2
ParentKweon Seung-ohk
Alma materChung-Ang University
OccupationLawyer, politician
Signature
Korean name
Hangul
권성동
RRGwon Seongdong
MRKwŏn Sŏngdong

Kweon Seong-dong (Korean: 권성동; born 29 April 1960) is a South Korean lawyer and politician. A member of the People Power Party, he served as the member of the National Assembly for Gangneung from 2009 to 2026.

Before entering politics, Kweon worked as a prosecutor and lawyer at various prosecution offices and the Ministry of Justice. He made his political debut at the 2009 Gangneung by-election which he won with about 51% of popular votes. He made himself known through his role at the 2016 political scandal, which led to the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

Kweon has held several high-ranking leadership positions within his party. He served as the floor leader of the People Power Party in 2022 and again from 2024 to 2025. Additionally, he has stepped in as the party's acting leader on four separate occasions: twice in 2022, once in December 2024, and most recently in May 2025. He also previously served as the secretary-general for both the People Power Party and its predecessor, the Saenuri Party.

In January 2026, Kweon was convicted of taking bribes from the Unification Church and sentenced to two years in prison. On July 16, 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction, which resulted in his removal from political office.

Early life and education

Kweon was born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, South Korea in 1960.[1] He is the eldest of the three sons and a daughter of a housewife and Kweon Seung-ohk (died in 2022), was an educator and the former Director of Gangneung Myeongnyun Institution.[2][3][4] He attended Gangneung Myeongnyun High School before joining Chung-Ang University, where he studied law.[1]

Career

Although Kweon participated in anti-dictatorship movements in 1980, he chose to prepare for the bar instead of continuing his activism as he did not agree with "radical changes".[2] He was qualified for the bar in 1985.[1]

Shortly after completing national service, he began his prosecutor career at Suwon District Prosecutor's Office in March 1991, where he worked till transferred to Gangneung branch of Chuncheon District Public Prosecutors Office in September 1993.[1] He then moved to Seoul, where he worked at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the Ministry of Justice, Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Offices, and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, between 1994 and 2000, and again between 2003 and 2005.[1] His prosecutor career came to the end at Gwangju High Prosecutor's Office in 2006.[1] He then briefly worked as a lawyer at Sojong Partners.[1]

While he was working at the Ministry of Justice in 1999, Kweon made a draft of the National Human Rights Commission Act that was later submitted to the National Assembly.[2] The bill was, however, scrapped by the then ruling party, Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), who instead established the National Human Rights Commission based on the demand of left-leaning non-governmental organisations (NGO).[2] This made him to join politics.[2]

Politics

In the 2008 election, Kweon made an unsuccessful attempt to contest for Gangneung under the Grand National Party (GNP) banner.[1][2]

On 8 April 2022, Kweon was elected parliamentary leader of the People Power Party, defeating Cho Hae-jin.[5][6][7][8]

On 7 May 2025, Kweon went on a hunger strike as part of efforts to pressure the PPP into committing to a common candidate for the 2025 South Korean presidential election. This followed inconclusive negotiations between PPP candidate Kim Moon-soo and independent candidate Han Duck-soo.[9] On 11 September 2025, the National Assembly approved a motion to arrest Kweon on charges of bribery from the Unification Church.[10] On 17 September, the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant against him.[11]

In January 2026, Kweon was convicted of taking bribes from the Unification Church.[12] The conviction was upheld by the Seoul High Court[13] and the Supreme Court. He was given a two-year jail term and ordered to forfeit the sum he received. His conviction resulted in his removal from political office.[14]

Election results

General elections

YearElectionsConstituencyPolitical partyVotes (%)Remarks
20092009 By-electionGangneung
(Gangwon)		GNP34,834 (50.90%)Won
201219th National Assembly General ElectionGangneung (Gangwon)Saenuri57,444 (60.78%)Won
201620th National Assembly General ElectionGangneung (Gangwon)Saenuri54,359 (57.15%)Won
202021st National Assembly General ElectionGangneung (Gangwon)Independent49,618 (40.84%)Won
202422nd National Assembly General ElectionGangneung (Gangwon)People Power64,743 (54.24%)Won

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "[Who Is ?] 권성동 자유한국당 의원". businesspost.co.kr (in Korean). 13 January 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 권성동. raythep.com (in Korean). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ↑ 권승옥 전 학교법인 강릉명륜학원 이사장 별세 (in Korean). 11 February 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ↑ [부고] 권성동 국민의힘 국회의원 부친상. sedaily.com (in Korean). 11 February 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ↑ 국민의힘 새 원내대표에 '윤핵관' 권성동 의원. hani.co.kr (in Korean). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. ↑ 국민의힘 원내대표에 '尹 최측근' 권성동… "협치에 더 힘 쏟겠다". Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  7. ↑ [프로필] 권성동 국민의힘 신임 원내대표…당내 전략통. donga.com (in Korean). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  8. ↑ 국민의힘 신임 원내대표 권성동 의원‥"야당과의 협치에 정력 쏟겠다". imbc.com (in Korean). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "PPP floor leader launches hunger strike to urge candidacy unification". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  10. ↑ "Nat'l Assembly approves arrest motion of PPP lawmaker". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  11. ↑ "Arrest warrant issued for PPP lawmaker Kweon over bribery allegations". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  12. ↑ 김나영 (28 January 2026). "'김건희에 샤넬백 선물' 윤영호 1심서 징역 1년 2개월". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  13. ↑ Lee, Seung-ku (28 April 2026). "Court upholds former PPP leader's 2-year prison term in church bribery case". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  14. ↑ Son, Ji-hyoung (16 July 2026). "Conservative heavyweight loses seat over Unification Church bribery scandal". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
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