Bae Jae-jung

Bae Jae-jung (Korean: 배재정; Hanja: 裵在禎; born 16 February 1968) is a South Korean politician previously served as the Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon's first chief of staff. She is the first woman to lead the Prime Minister's Secretariat (PMS) since its creation in 1960s.[1]

Bae is one-term parliamentarian of now-ruling party, Democratic Party of Korea. During her term from 2012 to 2016, she took various roles in her party such as a member of Emergency Planning Commission in 2013, a spokesperson from 2013 to 2014 and vice-chair of Policy Committee from 2014 to 2015. Additionally, she worked as the deputy chief of staff to Moon Jae-in's first presidential campaign in 2012.

After then-parliamentarian Moon Jae-in was elected as the party leader and therefore announced that he will not seek for re-election in 2016 general election, she was chosen as a democratic candidate to replace him at the National Assembly. Unfortunately, she lost the election by less than 2,000 votes.

After serving as the chief of staff to Lee Nak-yeon, the first Prime Minister of President Moon Jae-in, she ran for the same constituency in the 2020 general election[2] but lost again.[3] In September 2020 she was brought back to the administration now serving as the President's secretary for political affairs.[4]

Before entering politics, she worked as a Busan Ilbo's journalist for almost two decades from 1989 to 2007 and a ranking member of its trade union.[5]

Bae holds a bachelor's degree in English language and literature and completed master's programme in arts, culture and videography from Busan National University in 1990 and 2012 respectively.