The interview with President Un-chan was carried out at the restaurant behind Seochodong Central Library. His diction and tossing of words pregnant with meaning creates a sort of tension. His words contain direct narration, quotes and the names of prominent figures without ceremony. A die-hard fan of Dusan, he checked the score of the baseball game in the middle of the interview. When the topic changed to baseball, his tone of speech bounded and he suddenly had many things to say.
The two people whom he likes most is his lifelong teacher economist Cho Soon and Dusan Bears baseball player An Kyung-hyun. His love of Professor Cho Soon is close to unconditional. His like of An Kyung-hyun is because of "his modesty despite being a veteran baseball player of several decades."
If asked about the reviews of him as being part of a conservative tide, he abruptly references Yoo Shi-min (current Minister of Health and Welfare). "[Yoo] graduated from the Seoul University Economics Department after me. He wrote something about me in 2002 upon my assumption of office: “it is said that Woon-ch'an is a pro-reform chancellor, but reforms will certainly fail at Seoul University. There are not many ideas for reform, and those that exist will not be carried out because of the entrenched faculty.' He continued, saying that I 'could get along with anyone and assimilate absorb anyone's ideas.” These words left me quite dumb-founded, of course. I hate that guy to death, but his words were right on the mark.
The part about him being open-minded and forward thinking but not a progressive scholar, rather being a person who can accept both right and left positions was the most astute point. "I can talk with both right wing hard-liners and also radical leftists. I am close to both professors Kim Soo-haeng and Chung Woon-yung. During the years of conservative president Kim Young-sam I appeared progressive, and during the comparatively liberal period of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun I appeared conservative. Indeed, I stand in the middle of the road.
He has 'four fathers'. One is his biological father, and another is the uncle who comforted and took him as a son at the age of nine upon the death of his biological father. The third is the ‘doctor who treated Korea’ Scoffield, and the final one is Professor Cho Sun whom he met at Seoul university and guided him until now. He continued to say that, amidst the difficult and intense poverty of his childhood, he was “lucky to have these fathers who lead him down the roads of life.”
The story behind the interview with Un-chan Chung |
