section_path: Early life/Child factory worker
section_name: Child factory worker
paragraph_text: Child factory worker
  
  Lee's family moved to Seongnam, an industrial planned city built during the administration of Park Chung Hee to concentrate industry outside of Seoul. Seongnam was mostly populated by poor people, who were often coerced to move there by the government.
  
  Like other children from poor families, Lee worked in a handmade necklace factory instead of attending middle school. After the necklace factory went bankrupt, he moved to a company called Dongma Rubber. Lee at this time was not old enough to legally work in South Korea, so he worked under various pseudonyms. Lee injured his finger at Dongma Rubber.
  
  After the accident, Lee left Dongma Rubber and worked for Daeyang Industry. In a second workplace injury, an industrial press crushed his wrist joint. The injury was untreated and caused a disability in his arm. Later, he was exempted from military service. He is a contemporary registered disabled person.
  
  While working at Daeyang Industry, Lee saw a group of students wearing school uniforms and he developed a desire to attend university. He enrolled in classes to pass the exams. He passed the high school entrance examination and earned a middle school diploma in 1978. In 1981, he passed the university entrance examination and obtained a high school diploma.
  
  Lee's personal experience with crushing poverty inspired his political philosophy of ' Eokgang Buyak ', which aims to curb the privileges and excesses of the powerful and support the poorest segments of society.