오영환 吳永煥
Former firefighter and member of the 21st National Assembly
| Life | 1988 |
| Era | 현대 |
| Clan | 함양 오씨 |
Life & career
O Yeong-hwan (吳永煥, born 1988) is a former firefighter turned politician of the Hamyang O clan. Born in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi, he finished middle and high school in Busan and graduated in fire and disaster prevention from the University of Seoul. After working for a fire-protection contractor in Busan he enlisted as a conscripted firefighter, serving in the Haeundae 119 water-rescue and ambulance units, and after discharge he was appointed a fire official, serving as a rescuer at Gwangjin Fire Station, in the Dobongsan mountain rescue team of the 119 Special Rescue Unit, at Seongbuk Fire Station and as an aerial rescue-and-ambulance member of the Central 119 Rescue Headquarters. In 2015 he published the essay collection 'A Firefighter's Prayer'.
After leaving the fire service in 2019, he stood in 2020 as the Democratic Party's fifth recruited talent for Uijeongbu A and was elected to the 21st National Assembly. He is described as the party's youngest winner and the first former firefighter in the Assembly. As a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee he worked on life safety and disaster response and is said to have been the lead sponsor of the 'three laws for respecting life and safe workplaces', fire-prevention bills, a presumption-of-injury law and a 119 reporting law. He was a Democratic Party emergency committee member in 2021 and floor spokesperson in 2022-2023.
In April 2023 he became the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to announce he would not run in the 22nd general election, saying he would re-take the firefighter exam; in March 2024 he left the Democratic Party for the New Future party and left again in July. According to Korean Wikipedia he passed the Seoul fire department's grade-9 open recruitment exam in July 2025 and has worked since October 2025 as a firefighting crew member of the Seoul Disaster Headquarters. Korean Wikipedia's entry on the clan lists him as a 21st Assembly member. This page summarizes only public activity neutrally and omits private information such as family.
From Firefighter to the Assembly
After serving with the Haeundae water-rescue unit, Seoul rescue teams and the Central 119 aerial unit, he was elected to the 21st National Assembly in 2020 and worked on disaster-safety legislation on the Public Administration and Security Committee.
After the Assembly
He announced in April 2023 that he would not run in the 22nd general election and was reported to have passed the 2025 open recruitment exam for firefighters and to be working at the Seoul Disaster Headquarters.