Chung Un-chan, chairman of the presidential Commission for Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies

By Kim Tae-gyu

Former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan was a vibrant, respected and confident economics professor at Seoul National University. His teaching was authoritative, succinct and precise.

In front of hundreds of collegians, the self-proclaimed Keynesian dominated classes through explaining a set of delicate economic principles and difficult occasions with easy examples.

Thirteen years later after a stint as prime minister and allegations of him making advances to a woman half his age, Chung proved to be bureaucratic; being tight-lipped and lacking in vigor during a luncheon meeting with reporters as head of the state-backed Commission for Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies (CGS).

His remarks were extremely hard to understand as he kept mumbling while giving an “artificial” smile from time to time.

In addition, Chung sidestepped all questions worth grabbing headlines including those related to the shared growth of large firms and smaller ones, the No. 1 agenda of the CGS.

Some reporters got nervous and asked Chung why he didn’t reply in a straightforward manner. His answer: ``I have suffered so many hitches (due to the mass media) that I am very cautious now.’’

Where is the confident professor gone? What happened to the famous economist with a Ph.D. from Princeton University, who was touted as one of the best scholars in the country?

His career of the past 10 years could give a clue to what has taken place with Chung.
He took charge of Seoul National University from 2002 through 2006 and received many positive evaluations that he had successfully headed the prestigious school.

Thanks in no small part to the achievement as a dean and his reputation as a top-rate economist, he got the call from the Lee Myung-bak administration midway through 2008 to become prime minister.

It would be a great honor to become the second-in-command of the government but all of his misfortunes and predicaments started at the point when he accepted the high-profile offer.

On the very night he accepted the job, he caused a big controversy by expressing skepticism over the official plan of relocating the country’s administrative capital to Sejong City, around 100 kilometers south of Seoul.

In particular, residents of the Chungcheong provinces were angry with Chung, who is from the region.

Furthermore, he faced a host of allegations during the confirmation hearings that he plagiarized his own academic papers, tried to dodge mandatory military service and evaded income tax.

However, he managed to gain the green light from the unicameral parliament as prime minister but his image as a clean, clear-headed professor evaporated. During the vote, opposition lawmakers abstained in a show of displeasure.

As prime minister, Chung continued to put forth the idea of jettisoning the Sejong City project. To soothe regional sentiments, he came up with an alternative plan of building a business-friendly belt there.

Yet, the scheme failed to win the approval of the National Assembly, which eventually prompted Chung to step down during the summer in 2010, less than a year after he took the helm.

Then he took charge of the CGS last December and claimed that large-sized companies were required to share parts of their profits with subcontractors.

The proposal caused a backlash from such figures as Samsung Group owner Lee Kun-hee and Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung. The ministry is supposed to oversee the CGS.

Chung would have felt insulted because Choi is his alumnus of Kyunggi High School. The latter is nine years younger than the former and in Korea, high school seniority means something.

In this climate, Chung threatened to quit citing lack of support from the government even though he withdrew this later.

Dealing a final blow to Chung, disgraced former curator Shin Jeong-ah said in her recent memoir that Chung sexually harassed her in offering her a job at Seoul National University. It was published last month.

The 39-year-old claimed that Chung often attempted to meet her at around 10 p.m. at a hotel bar while gently touching her shoulder and arm. She wrote: ``He said that I was a lady he wanted to love. ... He had a lousy sense of ethics.’’

Chung flatly dismissed the claim but his image was damaged once again.

Experiencing all these troubles, he might have sufficient reason to lose confidence and mumble in front of young journalists including his former students.

This reporter thinks that he had better stay in the academic community. But he made his own choice and there is no way to return.

Chung may be able to regain his reputation in the realm of politics, but it will be a tall task for a career economist. He had better run away from politics, otherwise, he will be further victimized.