Han Kuo-yu

Han Kuo-yu (Chinese: 韓國瑜; pinyin: Hán Guóyú; born 17 June 1957) is a Taiwanese politician and retired army officer who has served as the president of the Legislative Yuan since 2024. He is a member of the Kuomintang (KMT). Born to a military family, Han graduated from the Republic of China Military Academy and served six years in the Republic of China Army as an officer. He studied English literature at Soochow University, earned a master's degree from National Chengchi University in 1988, and was a doctoral student at Peking University from 2001 to 2009. He first entered politics in 1990, when he won election to the Taipei County Council. From 1993 to 2002, Han represented a portion of Taipei County in the Legislative Yuan for three terms. Afterwards, he was the head of the state-owned Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Company from 2013 to 2017. Han ran unsuccessfully in the 2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election against Wu Den-yih, placing fourth. In 2018, Han ran for Mayor of Kaohsiung and won the election as a dark horse and populist candidate. He was the first member of the KMT to hold the office since 1998. The party nominated him as its candidate in the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election, though he lost to Tsai Ing-wen. In 2020, Han was recalled from his position as mayor. He returned to the Legislative Yuan after winning a party-list seat in the 2024 legislative election and was elected the president of the Legislative Yuan on February 1, 2024.