Chung Mong-joon

Chung Mong-joon or Chung Mong Joon (정몽준, born November 15, 1951) is a South Korean businessman and politician.

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 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.

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.

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.

Chung participated in Roh's presidential campaign up to the last day before the election, Dec 19, 2002.

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.

Initially this suspicion was raised from US when Congressional Research Service reported such allegation from a CIA source on March 5, 2002.

Upon hearing of such report, the GNP made use of this suspicion to attack the legitimacy of President Kim Dae-jung's government, and demanded thorough investigation through hearings and independent special prosecutors.

Several weeks before leaving his office, President Kim gave an apology and advised no investigation for this matter for fear of aggravating North and South's relation, and Chung Mong-hun also confessed much of the allegations to public in his final attempt to evade investigation.

He is the sixth son of Chung Ju-yung, founder of Hyundai, the second-largest South Korean chaebol before its breakup in 2003.

He remains the controlling shareholder of a Hyundai offshoot, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, parent of the world's largest shipbuilding company.

He is also the chairman of the board of the University of Ulsan and Ulsan College in Ulsan, South Korea.

He is the founder and the honorary chairman of The Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

He was Honorary Vice-president of FIFA and president of the South Korean football association.

Chung's brother Chung Mong-hun, then the president of Hyundai Asan who pioneered South and North joint Mount Kumgang tour business, committed suicide on Aug 4, 2003 when he was investigated by prosecutors for his alleged $400 million cash remit to North Korea shortly before 2000 North-South summit.

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.

On Dec 18 afternoon, 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.

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."