hankyoreh

Television anchorman, spokesman for the opposition-turned-ruling party, second-term leader of the ruling party and unification minister. The life of telegenic Chung Dong-young, who was chosen as the presidential candidate of the pro-government liberal United New Democratic Party yesterday, is filled with a host of colorful careers. His skill as an eloquent speaker and his well-groomed appearance have won him recognition, however, he has not always been as complacent as he looks. With a unique, straight-forward style, Chung could be billed as a hero of troubled times, whose fight against the establishment has now earned him the right to run for president.

On July 27, 1953, the day when the armistice agreement was signed to halt the Korean War, Chung was born as the fifth son in a rural area of Soonchang county, North Cholla province. Chung became the eldest surviving son after his four elder brothers died of various diseases during the war.

Chung’s farther, Chung Jin-cheol, was the eldest son of a mid-sized land owner and served as the head of Gurim township and a provincial lawmaker. He died when Chung was a high school student. His father’s death dampened the adolescent Chung’s spirit, but he managed to attend the prestigious Seoul National University in 1972.

Since then, Chung has built up a spirit of resistance. In October 1973, Chung participated in a demonstration against the military regime of former President Park Chung-hee. The demonstration was engineered by Lee Cheol, his classmate and now chief executive of Korea Railroad Corp. The two were also joined by Chung’s friend, Lee Hae-chan, the former prime minister who was Chung’s rival in the primary. Chung was detained for 30 days for participating in the demonstration.

The following year, Chung was imprisoned for three months on allegations that he had joined a student group that was against the military regime. As a result, he was forcefully conscripted shortly after his release from prison.

After returning to the university in 1977, Chung landed a job in the following year as a television journalist at Munhwa Broadcasting Corp., or MBC. During his job interview, Chung dared to criticize the military regime, but he was fortunate enough to land the position anyway.

For the next 18 years of his life, until he reached the age of 43, Chung worked as a journalist, a correspondent and an anchorman. People close to Chung say that he was a tenacious journalist. Sometimes, camera crews complained because Chung wanted to do multiple takes for a 10-second report. As a journalist, Chung said he was apologetic for not having reported on the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju. “I witnessed the Gwangju uprising as a journalist, but I couldn’t do anything and it remains my shame,” Chung said.

Another show of Chung’s personality can be seen in the way he got married. He was finally allowed to marry music teacher Min Hae-gyeong, a daughter from a family of teachers in Jeonju, after running away with her to Mt. Sorak.

Ahead of local elections in 1996, former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was at the time the leader of the opposition party, advised Chung to turn to politics. The former president had some help from Chung’s old friend Lee Hae-chan, who served as a bridge between Kim and Chung during this time.

Chung was elected to the National Assembly for the first time in 1996 and became a spokesman for the party. Four years later, Chung became a second-term lawmaker with the highest voter turnout and was elected as one of the top leaders of former President Kim’s Millennium Democratic Party.

Chung’s political career was not all smooth sailing, however. In December 2000, he publicly asked veteran politician Kwon Roh-gap, the closest ally to then-President Kim Dae-jung, to disengage from party affairs. In addition, Chung started a political reform movement with a younger group of lawmakers, including Cheon Jeong-bae and Shin Gi-nam.

Riding on the boom of the reform movement, Chung announced his presidential bid in 2002, but he failed to win the party’s ticket. Chung, however, was the only candidate to have completed his campaign during the primary, as the other hopefuls dropped their bids due to the popularity of Roh Moo-hyun, who was elected to the presidency in the 2002 vote. At the time, Roh’s camp had quietly called on Chung to drop his bid, he did not change his mind.

According to President Roh, Chung changed himself into a team-player after the defeat and his first task was to create a new party. Under Chung’s leadership, the Millennium Democratic Party was split in November 2003, the Uri Party was established and in January 2004, Chung was elected as its first leader.

Chung later faced political turmoil. Disparaging remarks about the elderly prompted him to give up his ambition of becoming a lawmaker. Turning his career around once again, however, he became the unification minister in 2004.

Two years after he became the leader of the Uri Party, in May 2006, he resigned in order to take responsibility for the party’s landslide defeat in the local elections. Friction with President Roh erupted after this point and, eventually, Chung walked away from the Uri Party, calling for it to disband itself and create a new and unified party.

Chung’s attempts at challenging the political establishment have received mixed responses. Some have praised his bravery in fighting against injustice, but others have criticized him for engaging in a power struggle serving his own interests. For now, as the UNDP’s presidential candidate, Chung enjoys a political advantage over his rivals within the party. However, he may face a critical moment if his popularity is not enough to compete with that of opposition candidate Lee Myung-bak.
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