Cho Bong-am(조봉암 曺奉岩, 1898 - 1959) was a Korean independence activist and politician, who ran for president in the South Korean presidential election in 1956.He was a founding member of the Korean Communism party (조선공산당 朝鮮共産黨) and the Progressive Party (진보당 進步黨), a moderate socialist democratic party in South Korea that was one of the country's major political forces. In 1952, Cho ran for presidency for the first time against sitting president Rhee, and Yi Si-yeong. He gained only 0.8 million votes out of 5.2 million.