Ahn Cheol-Soo

Ahn Cheol-Soo, also called Charles Ahn, (born January 22, 1962, Pusan [Busan], South Korea), physician, educator, politician, and computer entrepreneur who founded AhnLab, Inc., South Korea’s largest Internet security firm. He later entered politics, establishing the People’s Party (later reformed as Bareunmirae) and staging several unsuccessful bids for the presidency.

Ahn, the son of a physician, received a medical degree (1986) from Seoul National University (SNU) and pursued graduate studies there in physiology (M.S. 1988; Ph.D., 1991). His first encounter with computers was in 1982, through his roommate, who used one. Ahn, who from childhood had been interested in how things worked, bought his own personal computer the following year and studied computer science independently. Several years later his computer became infected with a virus, and he began learning programming and studying computer viruses. Ahn soon developed one of the first native Korean antivirus programs, which he named V1 (the V stood for “vaccine”), and distributed it free of charge to users. Later versions were similarly named V2 and V3.

After receiving his medical degree, Ahn was a lecturer at Dankook University’s medical school (1989–91), in Seoul, and did his compulsory military service (1991–94) as an army medical officer. Afterward, in his spare time away from teaching and conducting his medical practice, he continued to work on Internet security programs. With his free antivirus software increasing in popularity, he decreased his work in the field of medicine and formed the Seoul-based company AhnLab in 1995 and began charging corporate clients a fee for antivirus services.

He studied at the University of Pennsylvania for an executive master’s degree in technology management (1997), offered through the university’s Wharton School of Business and its school of engineering. After earning that degree, he left the practice of medicine completely to focus on his company. In 1999 Ahn founded the security services firm AhnLab Coconut and began working with large corporate clients such as telecommunications companies and Internet service providers.

Having captured the lion’s share of the South Korean virus-protection market, AhnLab expanded its activities into the Japanese and Chinese markets in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Its initial public offering on Seoul’s Kosdaq exchange in 2001 raised $36 million. Meanwhile, Ahn continued his business education, completing a program in strategy and entrepreneurship in information technology at Stanford University (2000) and one in corporate governance at Korea University (2003).

Ahn earned plaudits for his acumen and leadership style from business observers and was named an exemplary entrepreneur by several industry publications. In the early years of the 21st century, he gained notice for his charitable contributions and began speaking out publicly on matters of South Korean political and business ethics. He resigned as CEO of AhnLab in 2005 and donated a large number of his shares to the company’s employees; he remained, however, as chairman of the board of directors. He also served as a director (2005–10) and as chairman of the board (2010–11) of POSCO, a South Korean steel-manufacturing conglomerate; during that time he earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School. In 2011 he became the dean of SNU’s Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology.

Ahn emerged as a figure on the political scene in the early 21st century when he was mentioned as a possible candidate during the 2006 Seoul mayoral election, and in 2011 he publicly contemplated running as an independent candidate for mayor in that year’s election. He registered high popularity in preelection polls but eventually decided not to run and instead supported fellow independent Park Won-Soon. Park’s surprising victory against the candidate from South Korea’s ruling Grand National (later Saenuri) Party was considered to be in no small part due to Ahn’s support, and Ahn was once again discussed as a potential political leader on the national level.

Ahn was the author of several books on computers, and a 2012 work, Ahn Cheol-Soo eui saenggak (“Ahn Cheol-Soo’s Thoughts”), in which he discussed his views on many issues facing the country, was an instant best seller in South Korea. In the book, Ahn addressed problematic business practices of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, the protection of citizens’ right to protest government actions, and the efficacy of free-trade agreements; his tentative solutions showed that Ahn leaned toward the left side of the political spectrum. In September 2012 Ahn announced his candidacy in the presidential election scheduled for that December. Following speculation that his participation could split the opposition vote and thereby return the ruling Saenuri Party to power, Ahn bowed out of the race in late November.

In 2016 Ahn cofounded the centrist People’s Party, and the following year he secured the party’s presidential nomination. Ahn ran on a generally populist platform that focused on decreasing income inequality and ending corruption. In addition, he vowed to pursue a tougher approach to North Korea. Although he initially surged in the polls, Ahn ultimately lost the 2017 election to Moon Jae-In of the Democratic Party of Korea. The following year the People’s Party merged with the Bareun Party, to form Bareunmirae. Later in 2018 Ahn ran for mayor of Seoul but was defeated. He left Bareunmirae in 2020 and subsequently created a new People’s Party. Ahn was the party’s candidate in the presidential election scheduled for March 2022. However, after falling behind in the polls, he dropped out of the race just days before the election. He gave his support to Yoon Suk-Yeol, who ultimately won.