Father of the president dead at age 92

Social Affairs

Published: 15 Aug. 2023, 16:46 Updated: 15 Aug. 2023, 20:48

Father of the president dead at age 92

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, greets People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon, second from left, and other senior PPP officials who paid their respects to his late father Yoon Ki-jung at Severance Hospital in Sinchon, western Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Yoon Ki-jung, a noted economist and father of President Yoon Suk Yeol, died on Tuesday at the age of 92.

The senior Yoon died at Severance Hospital in Sinchon, western Seoul, where he was being treated for health problems related to his advanced age.

The president was present for his father’s final moments, having delivered a speech earlier in the morning to mark the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule.

Yoon Ki-jung

According to his office, the president will hold a small funeral limited to family members, close associates and students of his father.

Born in Gongju, South Chungcheong, Yoon Ki-jung obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Yonsei University in 1956 and 1958.

After a stint as an economics professor at Hanyang University, Yoon became the first Korean recipient of a Japanese government scholarship in 1967 and undertook further study in economics at Hitotsubashi University, one of Tokyo’s leading institutions in social sciences.

Upon his return to Korea in 1968, Yoon was appointed as a professor at Yonsei University’s College of Commerce and Economics.

At the time of his appointment, professors in Korea were not required to already have doctorates, which they could often receive at the institution where they were employed if they submitted a short dissertation.

But Yoon was renowned among his peers for having refused to apply for a doctorate in this manner and reportedly derided the value of such “easy” degrees.

Yoon Ki-jung, left, and a young Yoon Suk Yeol in a photograph taken when the latter was in elementary school. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Over the course of an academic career that spanned almost four decades, Yoon authored several textbooks on statistical analysis and published multiple research papers on income inequality in Korea.

He also served as president of the Korean Statistical Society from 1977 to 1979 and president of the Korean Economic Association from 1992 to 1993.

As a father, he reportedly encouraged the future president to read a wide array of books on economics, including Milton and Rose Friedman’s “Free to Choose,” which the president still quotes on occasion.

In more recent years, he acted as his son’s “pillar” and close confidant, according to acquaintances of the president quoted by local media.

The younger Yoon is said to have sought his father’s advice during his own personal crises, including when he was demoted from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to the Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office in 2013 for seeking the prosecution of former National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

He also consulted with the senior Yoon when he decided to resign as prosecutor general during the Moon Jae-in administration, three months before he announced his intent to run for the presidency.

As his son prepared to run, the senior Yoon introduced him to his Yonsei colleague and fellow honorary professor, Kim Dong-gil, who reportedly encouraged his presidential ambitions.

Yoon Ki-jung, left, visits his son President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on July 12, 2022. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]