Former Prime Minister Jeong Won-sik Passes Away... Key Figure in Signing the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement

Jeong Won-sik, former Prime Minister

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Jeong Won-sik, former Prime Minister who served during the Roh Tae-woo administration, passed away at the age of 91.

According to his family and medical sources on the 13th, Jeong, who had been battling renal failure for about three months, passed away around 10 a.m. on the 12th. The funeral hall was set up at Seoul Asan Medical Center.

Jeong, originally from Hwanghae Province, graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Education and began working as an assistant professor in the same department from 1962. While living as an education scholar, he was appointed Minister of Education by former President Roh Tae-woo in December 1988. After his appointment, he declared his intention to strongly address school unrest, infringements on teachers' authority, and corruption and irregularities in universities to quickly stabilize the education system. He also stated that he would not accept teachers' labor rights such as the three labor rights. When the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (JeonGyoJo) was founded in May 1989, President Roh declared it an illegal organization.

After stepping down as Minister of Education, Jeong worked as a lecturer at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Duksung Women’s University. In May 1991, he was appointed Acting Prime Minister. On June 3 of the same year, just before his inauguration, Jeong was attacked by students while leaving his last lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Radical student activists, holding a grudge over his measures to outlaw JeonGyoJo during his ministerial tenure, threw eggs and flour at him, forcing Jeong to hurriedly leave the campus. Despite opposition from the opposition parties and expectations of his dismissal, the National Assembly approved his appointment on July 8, and Jeong officially took office as Prime Minister, dropping the "acting" title.

His greatest achievement during his tenure as Prime Minister was signing the Basic Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation between North and South Korea. Jeong served as the chief South Korean representative at the inter-Korean high-level talks from 1991 to 1992, visiting Pyongyang and meeting with Chairman Kim Il-sung. At the 5th inter-Korean high-level talks held in Seoul from December 11 for two days in 1991, the Basic Agreement, which included principles of "inter-Korean reconciliation," "non-aggression," and "exchange and cooperation," was fully finalized and signed. On February 19-20, 1992, at the 6th talks held in Pyongyang, Jeong and North Korean Premier Yon Hyong-muk signed the "Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Jeong resigned from the Prime Minister position on October 7, 1992. At the end of that year, he was appointed chairman of the presidential election campaign committee for the Democratic Liberal Party and served as chairman of the 14th presidential transition committee.

After retiring from all public offices, he remained active as an advisor to organizations demanding the "eradication of pro-North Korean forces" and worked with conservative senior education scholars.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.