By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Political commentator and professor Choi Jang-jip of Korea University retired Friday after 25 years as a lecturer. The school held a retirement ceremony for Choi and nine other scholars at the campus.
Choi, 65, is one of the most renowned yet controversial scholars in progressive academia in the country.
As a presidential adviser between 1998 and 1999, he was the target of the conservative daily Chosun Ilbo for his studies on the Korean War. The newspaper said Choi glorified North Korea while degrading South Korea.
At the time, his articles caused huge conflict in academia as well as lawsuits. Certain scholars refused to hold interviews with the newspaper, a movement later dubbed by critics of the left as the birth of the ``anti-conservative newspaper campaign.''
Choi is a highly respected critic of democratic and other political issues. As well as being director of the university's Asia Center, he is also one of the most quoted South Korean political scholars.
In his book ``Democracy after Democratization,'' he said democracy in South Korea is fading in the wake of the political dominance of conservative parties.
Choi and seven other professors will remain honorary professors, according to the university.