서민호 徐珉濠
Politician who served as mayor of Gwangju, governor of South Jeolla, multi-term National Assembly member and Deputy Speaker; led the founding of Chosun University
| Life | 1903 ~ 1974 |
| Era | 일제강점기·대한민국 |
| Clan | 이천 서씨 |
Life & career
Seo Min-ho (1903-1974), of the Icheon Seo clan, was a politician born in Nodong-ri, Dongang-myeon, Goheung, South Jeolla. He graduated from Waseda University's political economy department in 1928, earned a master's in political science from Columbia University in 1935, and studied at Wesleyan.
After liberation he was mayor of Gwangju (1945-46) and governor of South Jeolla under the US military government (1946), and led the founding of Chosun University with Park Cheol-ung. Elected to the Second National Assembly as an independent, he is known for taking up and exposing the National Defense Corps scandal and the Geochang civilian massacre. He later served in the Fifth (independent, Deputy Speaker), Sixth (Liberal Democratic Party) and Seventh (Daejungdang) Assemblies and lost in the Eighth (New Democratic Party).
In 1952, during the Geochang inquiry, he shot and killed an army captain who had threatened him, the so-called Seo Min-ho (or Captain Seo) case; the Assembly voted for his release but the Rhee government ignored it and he is said to have remained jailed for about eight years until the April 19 Revolution. Arrested in 1966 under the Anti-Communist Law, he received two years at trial but was acquitted on appeal in 1970, and he ran for president in 1967 before withdrawing. He died in Seoul on 24 January 1974, aged 70.
His Assembly Work and the 1952 Case
In the Second National Assembly Seo Min-ho is said to have chaired the home affairs committee and probed corruption under the Rhee government, the National Defense Corps scandal and the Geochang massacre. While leading a delegation to inquire into Geochang he clashed with a serving soldier and was detained; the Assembly voted for his release recognizing self-defense, but the government did not comply.
Details such as the victim's status and the course of the trial are described differently by source, so only confirmed points are given here; see specialist studies for the court records.
Chosun University and Education
Wikipedia lists Seo Min-ho, with Park Cheol-ung, as a leader of the push to found Chosun University. Located in Dong-gu, Gwangju, it is known as a private university that built Honam's higher education right after liberation. Some see his Waseda and Columbia background as a driver of this local effort.
Grave
Not confirmed in sources
Descendants
He belonged to the Icheon Seo family of the Honam region around Goheung; family details were not confirmed. See also the Icheon Seo clan page.