Ko Wen-je (Chinese: 柯文哲; pinyin: Kē Wénzhé; born 6 August 1959), also known by his nickname Ko P, is a Taiwanese politician, physician, and transplant surgeon who served as the 13th mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022. He founded the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in 2019 and was the party's first chairman until 2025. A specialist in intensive care medicine, Ko earned a doctorate from National Taiwan University in 2002, became a surgeon at National Taiwan University Hospital, and taught as a professor at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine. He played leading roles in standardizing organ transplant procedures in Taiwan and pioneered the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in Taiwan. Apart from his practice, he is known for his numerous media appearances and interviews as a social and political commentator. In the 2014 local elections, Ko ran successfully as an independent candidate for the Taipei mayoralty, defeating Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Sean Lien. He was re-elected as mayor in the 2018 local elections. After serving two mayoral terms, he ran in the 2024 presidential election as the presidential nominee of his new Taiwan People's Party, with Cynthia Wu as his running mate. He campaigned as a "third way" between the DPP and KMT, the two parties which have traditionally dominated elections in Taiwan, and placed third, after Hou Yu-ih and Lai Ching-te. In August 2024, prosecutors detained Ko to investigate a property development project from his time as mayor, and indicted him on bribery and other corruption charges in December 2024. He was detained, incommunicado, until being released from detention on bail of NT$70 million (US$2.32 million) in September 2025. Ko’s detention triggered claims of political persecution and protests.
