He stepped down from his role as governor and announced his retirement from public life after acknowledging accusations that he sexually assaulted his aide Kim Ji-eun on multiple occasions.

The underground newspaper, which was on a banned list, was handed over by the owner of Jaeil Bookstore at the corner of Daejeon Downtown District.

In 1998, he was arrested by the Agency for National Security Planning and was imprisoned for 10 months after being convicted of the involvement in the youth-led rallies motivated by anti-American sentiment.

Starting from January 1989, Ahn Hee-jung worked as an aide to lawmaker Kim Deok-ryong of the Reunification Democratic Party.

As he was disappointed by lack of conviction amongst the existing politicians, he returned to Korea University to continue his studies to create a new opportunity.

He was found guilty in an appeal court in September 2004 and was sentenced to one year in prison, serving his term at the Seoul Detention Center.

Ahn won the governorship of South Chungcheong Province against Park Sang-don of the Liberty Forward Party by a margin of 2.4 percent in the fifth local election held on 2 June 2010.

[5][6][7] Ahn was considered the main darkhorse contender to be the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential nominee against frontrunner Moon Jae-in.

His primary appeal was mainly as a young center-left candidate who was socially and economically liberal but held a centrist stance on issues of national security.

[8] As runner up to the eventual winner President Moon, Ahn was considered an heir and a leading party candidate for the following presidential election in 2022.