Life Summary
Heo Tae-jeong is mayor of Daejeon Metropolitan City.

He is focusing on restoring Daejeon’s financial stability amid mounting debt and fostering the AI industry to encourage young people to settle in the city.

He was born on the 17th day of the eighth lunar month in 1965 in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province.

He graduated from Daesung High School in Daejeon and the Department of Philosophy at Chungnam National University.

He graduated from the Department of Asia-Pacific Regional Studies at Korea University’s Graduate School of Policy Studies, but returned his master’s degree after allegations of plagiarism in his thesis emerged.

While attending Chungnam National University, he participated in the student movement and met Lee In-young, minister of unification, Oh Young-sik, a former lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Ahn Hee-jung, a former governor of South Chungcheong Province.

He was recruited by the Roh Moo-hyun administration and worked at the presidential office as an administrative officer for personnel affairs and social affairs. He also served as a policy secretary to former Minister of Science and Technology Oh Myung.

He served two terms as head of Yucheong District in Daejeon Metropolitan City.

After narrowly losing to People Power Party candidate Lee Jang-woo in the mayoral election, he regrouped and returned as mayor of Daejeon in June 2026.

He tends to approach matters positively and demonstrates hands-on leadership by personally visiting sites and engaging directly with issues.

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