Ahn Gyu-back (Korean: 안규백; Hanja: 安圭伯; born 29 April 1961) is a South Korean politician in the liberal Minjoo Party of Korea. He has been a member of the National Assembly for Dongdaemun, Seoul, since 2012, and previously served as a party list member from 2008 to 2012.
Ahn Gyu-back | |
|---|---|
안규백 | |
 Ahn in 2023 | |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 30 May 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Chang Kwang-keun |
| Constituency | Seoul Dongdaemun A |
| In office 30 May 2008 – 29 May 2012 | |
| Constituency | Proportional representation |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 April 1961 Gochang, North Jeolla, South Korea |
| Citizenship | South Korean |
| Political party | Minjoo Party of Korea |
| Alma mater | Sungkyunkwan University |
| Website | safe100.or.kr |
| Ahn Gyu-back | |
| Hangul | 안규백 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 安圭伯 |
| Revised Romanization | An Gyubaek |
| McCune–Reischauer | An Kyubaek |
Ahn was appointed deputy floor leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the Minjoo Party's predecessor, on 12 October 2014,[1] and remained in that position for seven months.[2] He was praised by his Saenuri Party counterpart, Cho Hae-jin, who described him as having an "honest and upright" character and "always thinking of his country first".[a] He subsequently became head of strategy and public relations for the NPAD on 23 June 2015.[3]
A ranking member of the Assembly's National Defense Committee,[4] Ahn has been a critic of South Korea's defense policy. In 2011 he stated that draft-dodging had doubled under the Lee Myung-bak administration,[5] and at the end of 2015 he attacked Park Geun-hye's government for signing an intelligence cooperation agreement with Japan and the United States, stating that "it is against all reason to give [Korea's] advanced information" to Japan given its colonial history in the peninsula and continuing territorial claims over the Liancourt Rocks.[6] In June 2015, he introduced a bill to honor the veterans of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, an armed confrontation with North Korea that had taken place in 2002.[7]
Born in Gochang County in North Jeolla, Ahn attended high school in Gwangju, and studied Eastern philosophy at Sungkyunkwan University as an undergraduate before earning a master's degree at the university's Department of Commerce and Trade.[8][9]