Who Is Chung Sye-kyun?
By Kim Sue-young
Chung Sye-kyun, 58, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), began his political career in 1996 when he was elected to the National Assembly on the ticket of the now-defunct New Millennium Democratic Party.
A four-term lawmaker, Chung held key posts in the party, including chief of planning and policy coordination during the presidential campaign in 2002, and played a leading role in helping former President Roh Moo-hyun beat Lee Hoi-chang, now chairman of the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party.
A year later, Roh's loyalists created the Uri Party, the de facto predecessor of the DP. In 2005, Chung led the Uri Party and received positive responses that he fared well with stable leadership.
He served as minister of commerce, industry and energy between 2006 and 2007. The ministry merged into the Ministry of Knowledge Economy after the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration last February.
Chung then returned to the party which was suffering from a double-whammy of internal feuding over future plans and low public support ahead of the presidential election last December.
He was re-elected party chairman in 2007.
Since the crushing defeat of liberal candidate Chung Dong-young over conservative Lee Myung-bak in the 2007 presidential race, Chung has led the DP, attracting most Uri Party members.
He gained a master's degree in management at Pepperdine University in the United States in 1990 and a doctorate in the same major at Kyung Hee University in Seoul in 2004.
Born in Jinan, North Jeolla Province, in 1950, Chung graduated from Korea University in Seoul in 1975 and worked at the Ssangyong Group until 1995. Afterwards, he taught students at Kyungsung College in Busan for a year.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr