| Chang Dae-hwan | |
|---|---|
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 장대환 |
| Hanja | 張大煥[1] |
| Revised Romanization | Jang Daehwan |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chang Taehwan |
Chang Dae-hwan (also Chang Dae-whan; born 21 March 1952) is a South Korean businessman.[2] He is best known as the president of the Maeil Business Newspaper, South Korea's main business daily.[3] He also served a brief stint as South Korea's acting prime minister in August 2002 under president Kim Dae-jung, but the National Assembly voted not to confirm him.[4]
Chang obtained a bachelor's degree in politics at the University of Rochester in 1973. He also received a diploma for the Study of EC (European Community) in Belgium in June 1974, and went on to do an M.A. in international affairs at George Washington University. Afterwards, Chang received his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics and management from New York University, where he wrote his 1987 doctoral dissertation on South Korean construction firms in the Middle East.[2][5] He serves as the president of the South Korean branch of the NYU alumni association.[6]
Chang started his newspaper career as a manager of planning department at Maeil Business Newspaper on 1 January 1986. He then rose to the position of director, managing director, and executive director successively, finally becoming the president and publisher in 1988.
Chang was named as South Korea's acting PM on 9 August 2002, after the National Assembly declined to confirm his predecessor Chang Sang. The nomination was a surprise to fellow top-level civil servants in their 60s, as Chang was just 50 years old at the time, and had no experience in government.[7] If appointed, he would have been the wealthiest member of the cabinet, with ₩5.6 billion in family assets, according to his self-report.[8] However, during his confirmation hearings, questions came up about his personal finances in relation to the Maeil Business Newspaper. Grand National Party (GNP) member Hong Joon-pyo claimed that Chang had borrowed ₩2.38 from Hanvit Bank (Woori Bank) using the MBN's deposits as collateral, in order to purchase stocks; he described this as a case of "embezzlement".[9] Ahn Kyung-ryul, also of the GNP, claimed that Chang and his wife amassed ₩2.75 billion in assets from 1987 to 2000, but their total actual estimated income was ₩1.35 billion, leaving ₩1.4 billion unaccounted for, and further that Chang had illegally purchased 675 pyeong (2,230 m2) of agricultural land in 1987.[9][10] Chang himself also acknowledged in a press conference that he had falsely registered himself as living in Seoul's Gangnam-gu to enroll his son in a better school.[9] In the end he was rejected by a vote of 151-112.[4]
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