Woo Sang-ho (, born 12 December 1962) is a South Korean activist and politician who has served as the governor of Gangwon State since 2026. A member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), he previously served as the party's floor leader from 2016 to 2017 and as its interim leader from June to August 2022. He was the member of the National Assembly for Seodaemun A from 2004 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2024.
Woo was born in Cheorwon, Gangwon, and raised in Seoul, where he attended Yongmoon High School. He joined student movements and took a crucial role during the June Struggle, while studying the Korean language at Yonsei University. Following his graduation in 1989, he joined politics during 1995 local elections. He first contested in 2000 election for Seodaemun A constituency but lost to Lee Sung-heon.
He was firstly elected in 2004, but lost again in 2008. After coming back to the National Assembly in 2012, he became the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party in 2016. He took a crucial role during the 2016 political scandal that triggered the impeachment of the then President Park Geun-hye. He worked close to the Democratic presidential candidate Moon Jae-in who was elected in 2017.
In the 2018 local elections, Woo was one of the favorite candidates for the Seoul mayorship. He contested the Democratic preselection but lost to the then-Mayor, Park Won-soon. Following the death of Park in 2020, he ran again for Democratic preselection for the same position for the 2021 election but lost to Park Young-sun.
Early life and education Woo Sang-ho was born on 12 December 1962 in Cheorwon, Gangwon. He is the youngest of the three sons and a daughter of Park Byung-hui (died in 2013), a health centre worker. His father was born in 1916, as the eldest son of a landowner in Cheorwon, and studied at Chuncheon High School. He also studied physical education at Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo) in Tokyo, Japan. Nevertheless, following the surrender of Japan in 1945, his land was taken by the Workers' Party of North Korea as Cheorwan was north of the 38th parallel and therefore under the rule of Soviet Union. He moved to Busan during the Korean War, but following the Armistice Agreement, he married Park Byung-hui in Seoul and returned to Cheorwon. As Cheorwon was recovered by South Korea, he reassumed ownership of his land, but he sold it and built a school. A house was his sole property when his youngest son was born. He was a member of the Democratic Republican Party.
When Woo was a primary school Form 6 student, the family moved to Seoul, where his father rented a one-room with a shared tap and a toilet. He later described himself as "too poor" during these times and also revealed that he never had his own room until his marriage. At his secondary school, he was caned by his class teacher as he was unable to pay the school fees. All of his elder siblings had given up continuing their tertiary education due to unaffordable fees, despite high results. On the other hand, his mother was seriously willing to send him to a university and sought help from relatives.
Woo graduated from Yongmoon High School in 1981. He then attended Yonsei University, where he studied Korean language. During Year one and two, his aim was becoming a poet or Korean teacher. He was a member of Yonsei Literary Society, a club within his university. In May 1986, he received the Yun Tong-Ju Poetry Prize.
In 1984, his second elder brother became disabled after a traffic collision. He then committed suicide.
Early career and political activities Woo's interest in politics began in 1979, when President Park Chung Hee was assassinated. Though he had connections with several student activities during the early 1980s studying at the same university, he kept his distance with them on purpose.
He began his activist career while serving in the army in 1985, when South Korea held a general election on 12 February. Prior to the election, the newly formed opposition New Korea and Democratic Party (NKDP) was gradually gaining popularity among people. About a week before the election, his company commander ordered his soldiers, including him, not to vote for the NKDP, but he proceeded to cast his vote for the NKDP and was scolded by his company commander. Other than this incident, his colleague, Park Rae-goon (later the President of Human Rights Foundation Saram), visited his military camp and urged him to be an activist.
After being discharged from the national service in 1985, Woo subsequently joined a seminar team consists of the class of '84, following the suggestion of Oh Yeon-ho. Although Woo was the class of '81, he used an alias "Kang-ta, the class of '84, studying Korean language" to not fear his juniors. He did not initially inform his mother of his activism, but later told her.
In 1987, Woo was elected the President of the Student Council of Yonsei University. He also served as the 1st Deputy President of the Association of National University Student Representatives under its President Lee In-young.
On 13 April 1987, the then President Chun Doo-hwan announced that the upcoming presidential election would be an indirect election as usual under the incumbent constitution. The announcement, oppositions and activities strongly objected to, provoked the June Struggle. Woo organized mass protests against the government's decision on 10 June, the same day with the party election of the then ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP), where Roh Tae-woo was elected its presidential candidate. A day before, they held a practical protest at Yonsei University, but one of the member Lee Han-yeol, who was also a junior to Woo, collapsed to the ground after a tear gas fired by the suppression forces hit his head. He was immediately brought to a hospital but died on 5 July after being in coma for about a month. Woo organised Lee's funeral and kept his portrait along with Woo Hyun and Ahn Nae-sang; both are now actors.
The mass demonstrations against the military dictatorship led the DJP President and presidential candidate Roh Tae-woo to announce the 29 June Declaration to complete the transition to democracy. However, policemen who caused the death of Lee Han-yeol were not arrested, and Woo Sang-ho was heading to the Seoul District Public Prosecutors' Office to complain about the issue. He and Woo Hyun were subsequently arrested by police at Daehan Gate of Deoksugung and were tortured at Seoul Namdaemun Police Station. The torture was stopped after the detective in charge had recognized that Woo was the President of the Student Council of Yonsei University. Instead, Woo was jailed for contempt of the country following an interview with Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times where he compared the South Korean government to the Nazis. Initially, he was imprisoned at Seoul Detention Centre (formerly Seodaemun Prison) in November 1987, but was relocated to newly built Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang as the old dentention centre in Seoul was closed.
Following his release in 1988, Woo was one of the founding member of Gyeryong Alpine Club, along with the first leadership board of the ANUSR. He also served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Patriotic Youth Association in 1989 and the Deputy Spokesperson of the National Union for Democracy and Ethnic Reunification in 1992. He was also a Planning Committee member of Monthly Mal. Other than political activities, he also established Youth Information and Culture Centre in 1994, and served as the managing director of Video Graphics in 1997.
Political career Early political career (1988–2004) His political activities were begun in the 1995 local elections. Although he did not contest, he gave his support to a Seoul mayoral candidate. The next year, he was brought into the National Congress for New Politics (NCNP), the main opposition party formed by Kim Dae-jung.
Woo contested the 2000 election for the Seodaemun A constituency. A year before, the then incumbent MP Kim Sang-hyun was seeking re-election, but also showed his intention that the upcoming new party (later named as the Millennium Democratic Party; MDP) should hold a preselection for the constituency. As Woo was likely to be the candidate for the constituency, Kim condemned the party and showed an opinion polling that indicated that Kim was more capable than Woo. Despite Kim's criticism, Woo officially won the MDP preselection on 17 February. Kim did not accept the result and subsequently withdrew from the MDP. He later joined the newly formed Democratic National Party.
As the MDP candidate, Woo contested against the GNP candidate Lee Sung-heon, his senior whom he met at Yonsei University. Woo gained popularity under the slogan "Young politics, clean politics" but lost to Kim on 13 April by a small margin (Lee: 47.01%, Woo: 45.16%). Following the election, he briefly worked as a visiting researcher at Colorado State University in 2001.
Prior to the 2002 presidential election, Woo invited Roh Moo-hyun, who was considering to run for the upcoming presidential election, to Seodaemun A constituency, where Woo was the party's division leader after he lost. He endorsed Roh, whom he was inspired by. At that time, Roh was far behind Lee In-je, who was the most favoured candidate of the MDP. During the presidential primary, Woo went to Gangwon and urged its party members to vote for Roh, but could only gain support from 14 people. Nevertheless, on 24 March, Roh barely defeated Lee in Gangwon by a margin of 7 votes (Roh: 630, Lee: 623). Roh then was officially elected the MDP presidential candidate, but was challenged within the party following the party's huge defeat in 2002 local elections, as well as the appearance of Chung Mong-joon. Several party members including Kim Min-seok (a former Seoul mayoral candidate who lost to Lee Myung-bak) against Roh quit the party and formed the Council for a Unity Candidate (CUC) that endorsed Chung. Several MPs accused CUC and established the National Participation Movement Headquarter, where Woo was its Deputy Head, to support Roh. However, Chung had withdrawn and agreed to back Roh. On 19 December, Roh defeated the GNP candidate Lee Hoi-chang and was elected the 16th President of South Korea.
The MDP was, however, under crisis after Roh took an oath as the President of the Republic. MPs from both the MDP and the GNP who sought political reforms subsequently left the party. Roh himself also quit the MDP on 29 September 2003. In October, Woo was also one of the MPs withdrawn from the MDP. They established a new party named the Uri Party, but Roh did not join until 2004.
First term as Member of the National Assembly (2004–2008) The 2004 election was held amid the controversial impeachment of Roh Moo-hyun. The de facto ruling Uri Party was expected to win the majority. In the election, Woo contested again for Seodaemun A constituency against the then incumbent MP and the GNP candidate Lee Sung-heon. Woo was leading in various polls and on 15 April, and he successfully defeated Lee.
During his first year, the abolition of the controversial National Security Act had been an crucial issue in politics. Many Uri MPs, including Woo, supported abolition. During an interview with People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, he said that he would persuade other MPs to get endorsements. Nevertheless, not all Uri MPs were advocating for abolition, and the main opposition GNP strongly objected the bid. The Uri Party finally decided to support abolition, but the vote failed to pass amid the internal conflicts and strong oppositions from the GNP. The party leadership immediately faced harsh criticism and collapsed on 3 January 2005.