and Labor Committee of National Assembly from 2016 to 2018. In the final year as the chair, Hong negotiated with major parties to reduce the maximum working hours from 68 to 52 hours. He also negotiated the terms for furloughed employees of closed factory of General Motors in Gunsan as the chair of his party's special task force on this factory closure. In 2017 he ran for his party's floor leadership but lost to Woo Won-shik. In the following year he ran again and won earning votes from 78 out of 116 democratic lawmakers. As floor leader of the ruling party, he formed coalition with the opposition parties apart from now-United Future Party to form the enough votes in parliament to pass the law for "reforms" on prosecution service and election laws. In 2021 he announced his campaign for the leader of the democratic party in its leadership by-election. He lost to Song Young-gil by less than 1% margin. Personal life and Education Hong is a grandson of a member of the advisory council to the governor-general of Korea which facilitated Japanese colonial rule over Korea. However, Hong led the enactment of Special Law on Asset Confiscation for Pro-Japanese and Anti-national Collaborators to the State and publicly apologised for his grand father's contribution to Japanese colonial rule. When the candidate from now-United Future Party, attempted to use this to discredit Hong in the 2016 general election, associations of independence activists and their descendants endorsed Hong and their leadership even joined his campaign. Hong holds two degrees from Dongguk University - a bachelor in philosophy and a master's in administration. He also completed a doctorate programme on administration from his alma mater. Electoral history Awards Order of Service Merit by the government of South Korea References Living people Minjoo Party of Korea politicians Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) 1957 births People from Gochang County Dongguk University alumni South Korean trade union leaders Uri Party politicians