Two views on Korean universities: Lee Kun-hee and Roh Moo-hyun

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Two views on Korean universities: Lee Kun-hee and Roh Moo-hyun

Published: 25 Jun. 2025, 00:02

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Chung Un-chan

The author, a former president of Seoul National University, is the chairman of the Korea Institute for Shared Growth.

During his presidential campaign, President Lee Jae Myung pledged to create 10 institutions on par with Seoul National University (SNU) and dramatically enhance regional universities. It is a bold and welcome idea. But for such a plan to take root, it must be informed by lessons from the past — particularly, how of two influential figures in early 2000s Korea viewed the role of universities: late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and former President Roh Moo-hyun.

Night view of the main gate of Seoul National University [JOONGANG ILBO]

Not long after I assumed the presidency of SNU in July 2002, I received an unexpected invitation from the chairman’s office for a dinner with Lee Kun-hee and his wife. At the time, my wife and I had never met them. In fact, I had spent the previous decade advocating chaebol reform, often criticizing Samsung’s foray into the auto industry.

During our conversation, Lee Kun-hee repeatedly stressed that the advancement of universities was essential for national progress. He asked about my vision for SNU. I outlined several priorities: reducing student enrollment to increase academic rigor, promoting diversity through balanced regional admissions, strengthening basic disciplines, launching a first year seminar program to foster character and leadership and expanding global academic exchange. My goal, I explained, was to elevate SNU to world-class standards and develop students into inexhaustible sources of talent.

Lee’s response was pointed: “You’ll need substantial funding to do all that, won’t you?” I replied that while money isn’t everything, no plan — no matter how sound — can be realized without financial backing. I asked for Samsung’s support, explaining that the investment would help produce talent for Korean industry and ultimately benefit the nation as a whole.

Former President Roh Moo-hyun, center, and the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, right, walk toward a reception room during a conference on cooperative growth between large and small businesses at the Blue House on December 28, 2006. [YONHAP]

SNU received an unrestricted cash donation from Samsung during my tenure — substantial enough to fund long-awaited initiatives. Additional in-kind support followed, including the construction of a long-desired art museum and renovations to the Hoam Faculty House. In total, Samsung contributed nearly 100 billion won ($73 million). Without this, it would have been difficult to improve faculty salaries, expand graduate scholarships, build new faculty apartments and significantly upgrade the life sciences department. At the time, Samsung did not want this support publicized. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude.

Roh, on the other hand, took a starkly different approach. From the beginning of his term in 2003, he was openly critical of SNU. Believing that rigid academic hierarchies and intense admissions competition were driving social inequality, he identified SNU as a central cause. Less than a month after his inauguration, he sent me a message through a professor in Seoul, proposing a drastic restructuring of SNU.

The first suggestion was to eliminate undergraduate programs and turn the university into a graduate-only institution. I opposed the idea, noting that no top-tier university in the world functions without undergraduates. The second proposal involved assigning numbers to all national universities, including SNU, and admitting students randomly. This was an extension of Korea’s policy of high school equalization and would have undermined autonomy and academic creativity.

After I rejected both ideas, Roh's pressure became more overt. One example stands out. Before it became public that Hwang Woo-suk had falsified a paper, the presidential office invited the study’s co-authors to lunch. At the event, Roh asked me, “Why are you here today, Mr. President?” Caught off guard, I replied, “I’m not sure myself.” After receiving a note from someone next to him, he said it was a joke. I responded in kind, but even accounting for his unique communication style, the moment was deeply humiliating.

Throughout Roh’s presidency, tensions between SNU and the presidential office over university admissions remained unresolved. In 2005, SNU announced that beginning in 2008, it would implement an essay. This angered Roh, who summoned then-Education Minister Kim Jin-pyo and reportedly said, “We should make the SNU president step down. How do we get his resignation?” Kim reportedly opposed the move, explaining that the essay component had been introduced to address flaws in the national academic evaluation system. He cautioned that dismissing the SNU president over this would become international news.

The late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee attends the 125th International Olympic Committee Session at the Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sept. 9, 2013. [YONHAP]

What, then, is the role of a university? It is not only to transmit knowledge but to create it. University competitiveness shapes national competitiveness. And to thrive, universities need investment as their soil and autonomy as their air. Korean universities today are thirsty — for both.

I urge the Lee Jae Myung administration to invest generously in higher education and grant it the autonomy it needs. In doing so, the government will help transform universities into creators of knowledge, not just transmitters of it.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.