Kwon Family
Kwon Byung-woo Birthday: 18 September, 1918 (d. 1984)
Education: Djabidjan City University, degree in Economics
Political affiliation: Djabidjanian Revolutionary Party (until 1975)
Positions held: Deputy Minister of Finance (1966-1967), Deputy Chairman of Djabidjan National Bank (1968-1973)
Biography: Kwon Byung-woon was born nearby Hyeoul, in a middle-class family. He moved to Djabidjan City, where he obtained a degree in Economics. He returned to Hyeoul and started to work as a salesman. He had joined a nationalist pro-independence political movement in his youth, being arrested several times, including a 2-year imprisonment sentence in 1951. From 1954 to 1958, he worked in a post office in Talgwon. Kwon joined the Communist Party of Djabidjan in 1956, being arrested in 1958.
Kang was released from prison in 1961, and he joined the Djabidianian Revolutionary Party in 1963. He soon gained the confidance of Lee Hyung-seok, whom he had meet in Djabidjan City two decades before, and he served as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1966 to 1967, being appointed as Deputy Chairman of Djabidjan National Bank, Djabidjan's central bank during the Social Republic of Djabidjan, from 1968 and 1973. Although he supported the government's socialist policies, he opposed those who suggested that the state should print more paper to finance the government's industrialization plan. After Nguyen Van Huynh was dismissed as Prime Minister, Kang would be fired from the government, becoming accountant in a state-owned company in Hyeoul.
In 1974, he wrote an article in a Economics journal, arguing that many state companies were losing money and living off the state, and proposed to relax the state monopoly on foreign trade. He was expelled from the party in 1975, and was under house arrest from 1976 to 1978, accused of "spreading foreign propaganda".
After the fall of the Social Republic of Djabidjan, Kwon returned to Djabidjan City in 1980. In his last years, he became an informal advisor for Lee Oh-seong, the leader of the People's Democratic Party, whom he often met until 1983, when he moved to Jangju. He would die the next year.
Kwon Jin-gyu Birthday: 24 October, 1936 (d. 2011)
Education: Talgwon Regional University, degree in State Administration
Political affiliation: Djabidjani Revolutionary Party (until 1976), People's Democratic Party (1980-2011)
Positions held: Minister of Justice (1984-1985), Premier of the State Council of Ministers (1985-1986), General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party (1985-2009), President of the Republic (1986-2011)
Biography: Kwon Jin-gyu was Kwon Byung-woon's second son. He become assistant professor in Jangju National University in 1966, until he was fired in 1976. He moved to Djabidjan City in 1978, where he met Lee Oh-seong as well as a group of political dissidents who had been purged from the Djabidjani Revolutionary Party as his father.
He joined the People's Democratic Party in 1980 and he was elected to the State Assembly the next year. He served for six months as Deputy Minister of Trade. When the People's Democratic Party returned to the government in 1983, he became Deputy Chairman of the State Assembly, and Minister of Justice from 1984 to 1985. In 1985, he was elected General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party and appointed Premier, becoming the second highest ranking official in Djabidjan, only after President Lee Oh-seong. President Lee would announce his resignation in 1986, due to his worsening health, and Kwon will be elected President of the Republic by the parliament.
He was President of the Republic of Djabidjan until his death in 2011, aged 75, being replaced by his son, Kwon Sang-jun.
Kwon Sang-jun Birthday: 4 December, 1974 (d. July 2021)
Education: Djabidjan City National University, degrees in Chemistry and Political Science.
Political affiliation: People's Democratic Party
Positions held: General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party (2009-2021), President of the Republic (2011-2021)
Biography: Kwon Sang-jun was Kwon Jing-gyu's son. Until 1992, he lived in Jangju with his mother. He moved to Djabidjan City in 2000, and after finishing his studies and military service, he was elected to the national parliament as a candidate of the People's Democratic Party in 2003, when he was only 29 years old. In 2005, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense until 2009, when he was elected General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party, following the resignation of his father, Kwon Jing-gyu.
President Kwon Jing-gyu suddenly died in 2011, and Kwon Sang-jun was elected President of the Republic, replacing his father as head of state. He continued most of the policies of his father, although he lived a much lavish lifestyle, according to some reports. He was a member of the United Reformed Church.
On 11 July 2021, President Kwon Jing-gyu, aged 47, died in an accidental helicopter crash nearby Enmedyè.
Kwon Mi-yeon Birthday: 21 January, 1990
Education: Djabidjan City National University, degree in International Economics
Political affiliation: People's Democratic Party
Positions held: Member of the parliament
Biography: Kwon Mi-yeon is the late President Kwon Jin-gyu's only daughter and President Kwon Sang-jun's sister.
She studied International Economics in Djabidjan City National University. After graduating, in 2012, she did an intership in the National Chamber of Commerce. From 2014 to 2018, she was reportedly living abroad. After returning to Djabidjan in 2018, she joined the Saeloun-Minae Foundation, a non-profit charity organization. In 2019, she was appointed a non-voting parliamentary representative, joining the Commitee on Women's and Family Affairs.
In November 2021, she was elected to the national parliament as a candidate of the Djabidjani People's Coalition. In December 2021, she was appointed by President Shin Yong-Nam as Deputy Secretary of the Economic State Commission.
She is married and she has one daughter, born in 2018. In March 2022,
her husband, businessman Yang Cheol-min, was arrested in a criminal case involving bribery of government officials. Kwon denied any involvement in the case.