Lee Jae-oh has served as President of the Korea Democracy Foundation (KDF) since July 2023, contributing to the commemoration and global promotion of democratic values in Korea and beyond.

He began his lifelong commitment to the democracy movement in 1964, when he participated in the June 3 Resistance Movement and played a leading role in the opposition to the Korea–Japan normalization talks.

He later helped establish the National Council for the Defense of Democracy and served as the second President of the Youth Council for the Defense of Democracy.

During the June 10 Democracy Movement of 1987, Lee served as a Standing Executive Committee Member of the National Movement Headquarters for the Attainment of a Democratic Constitution, playing a key role in leading the nationwide uprising.

He also co-founded the National Council for Achieving Candidate Unification to End Military Rule, spearheading efforts toward opposition candidate unification.

In 1989, following the establishment of the National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification (Jeonminryeon), he served as Chair of its Committee for National Reunification.

Throughout the years of military dictatorship, Lee remained active in the pro-democracy movement as a prominent civic activist.

As a result, he was imprisoned five times and spent a total of ten years and six months in prison.

Notably, he endured forty days of interrogation and torture at the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Interrogation Center, the predecessor site of today’s National Museum of Korean Democracy.

In 2000, Lee played a significant role in the legislative process leading to the enactment of the Korea Democracy Foundation Act, actively supporting its passage and institutionalization.

A five-term Member of the National Assembly, he later served in the Lee Myung-bak administration as the second Minister of Special Affairs and as the second Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ministerial rank). He has also served as a Senior Advisor to the People Power Party.

He is also the author of Korea’s Student Movement, a work on Korea’s democracy movement that has been translated into Chinese and introduced to audiences in Taiwan.

As President of the Korea Democracy Foundation, Lee Jae-oh continues to lead efforts to promote democracy and fairness on a global scale while strengthening international partnerships and cooperation.