Chung Mong-joon

Political career and personal life

Chung became a politician when he was elected as an assembly man in 1988 and served consecutive 7 terms in two different electoral districts. Initially, he was elected in Dong District, Ulsan, where the predominant share of the population consisted of employees of the Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, its affiliated companies' employees, and their families. Most of other population in Dong District run businesses related with serving those workers and their families. Chung served as a representative of this particular district for 20 years. He joined the Grand National Party (GNP) in 2007 shortly before 2007 South Korean presidential election, declaring his support to that party's presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak. As a member of the GNP, he switched his electoral district to Dongjak District, Seoul, and represented there as an assembly man for 2 terms until 2014 when he had to give up that seat to run for mayor of Seoul, but the election was lost to Park Won-soon leaving no political titles for Chung after. Chung had announced his candidacy for FIFA president. However he was banned from all football activities for six years by FIFA Ethics Committee in October 2015. In 2018, the ban was reduced to 15 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport due to "mitigating factors."

Presidential campaign of 2002

In 2002, he ran for the presidency, but later gave up his candidacy supporting Millennium Democratic Party's candidate Roh Moo-hyun. Their coalition was motivated to prevent the GNP from winning the presidential election. South Korean regionalism became much more serious and antagonistic under President Kim Dae-jung's term. President Kim is the only South Korean president coming from Jeolla province, whereas all the other South Korean presidents since General Park Chung Hee's military coup in 1961 have been from Gyeongsang Province. Those of Koreans who despised Jeolla province supported the GNP, and the party exploited such sentiments for its political gains of denouncing President Kim and his government. Throughout President Kim' term, the GNP was accused by civil rights groups and media for instigating anti Jeolla sentiments. Chung and Roh Moo-hyun objected such self-destroying regionalism in South Korea, and advocated reconciliation between Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. Their coalition was intended to defeat the party which was seen to exploit regionalism.

Chung participated in Roh's presidential campaign up to the last day before the election on 19 December 2002. On the afternoon of 18 December, before the crowd of his supporters in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Roh suggested Chung Dong-young and Choo Mi-ae as viable choices of candidates for the next presidential race in 2007. Roh suggested those Democratic Party's politicians when he saw some of the crowd having slogans "Chung Mong-joon for the next presidential candidate" Roh's suggestion was not intended to exclude Chung as a presidential candidate, but to encourage and to praise his party's politicians in return to their supports to his presidential campaign.

Several hours after this, Chung's spokeswoman officially announced Chung's withdrawal from supporting Roh. Roh's presidential camp was stunned by this, and Roh tried to allay Chung by visiting his home in person on the very last night before the presidential election, but Chung kept his front door closed and refused to see Roh. Nevertheless, Roh went on to win the election on the following day for the victory of all of those Koreans who wished to see regionalism end in South Korea.

Chung's joining of the GNP is an irony because his withdrawal from the presidential race in 2002 supporting Roh Moo-hyun was responsible for the GNP's failure in winning the presidential election. The party's candidate Lee Hoi-chang received absolute support from conservative or anti-Jeolla voters. By the help of Chung's withdrawal, the election became bipolar between Roh and Lee, and Roh turned out to be a winner receiving exclusive support from reform-minded Korean voters. The GNP had to wait another 5 years to produce a president from this defeat. Also his declaration to support Lee Myung-bak when he joined the GNP is seen as ironic. When Chung's father Chung Ju-yung ran for the presidency in 1992, Lee Myung-bak supported Kim Young-sam instead of Chung Ju-yung despite the fact that Lee made fortune and fame when he worked at Hyundai. Chung Ju-yung even bought him a luxurious house when Lee worked for Chung Ju-yung.

Presidential campaign of 2012

Shortly after he published his autobiography in 2011, some South Korean media reported an allegation that his shipbuilding company bought a large sum of his autobiography in order to make it known as a best seller. The media gathered that information after interviewing inside personnel, and found that Hyundai Heavy Industries Group distributed gift certificates to thousands of their employees to purchase Chung's autobiography. It was reported that they required employees to return the books along with receipts to the company after purchase, and added a special instruction not to purchase large volumes at once for fear of getting suspicions from public.

On top of publishing his autobiography, Chung also donated huge sums of money and set up a charity foundation in 2011, a year before 2012 presidential election. He contributed $200 million worth of Korean won from selling approximately 5% of his assets and established the Asan Sharing Foundation, which offers educational opportunities and financial assistance to young people from low income families. He said he funded it to commemorate his late father Chung Ju-yung, but many couldn't dismiss reasonable suspicion that his motivation was to impress the public before the presidential election. In fact, Chung didn't deny such suspicion, arguing that donation is supposed to good regardless of purpose.

Chung didn't think of Park Geun-hye as accomplished as himself before 2012 presidential election. When he decided to compete with Park, he said he was a better choice as a presidential candidate because of his educational background and work experience. When he pointed out Park's disadvantage, he argued that expertise of politics and economy is not something to be achieved in a short time. When Park wrote an article about North Korean issue in Foreign Affairs, Chung discredited it claiming someone else had written it under her name. Therefore, it was clear that he wouldn't miss 2012 presidential election. In 2012, he ran for the presidency, but only briefly. He was the first politician who submitted application for registration as a preliminary presidential candidate on May 1, 2012, but dropped out of the race in a couple of months. He wanted rule change for primary election so that general population choose party's presidential candidate, but he wasn't able to make this demand sound serious to the GNP, since Park's followers dominated and controlled the party. He gave up his candidacy and supported Park after. When he advertised Park at streets, he was saying to crowd that Park was prepared, and she was the one to take good care of economy and diplomacy.

Education

Graduated, Choongang High School

Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Seoul National University

Master of Business Administration, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Election results