The phone number is 0003, 24 years in line with YS… Former senior Lee Won-jong dies

The late Lee Won-jong, former head of the Blue House, is interviewing the JoongAng Ilbo in June 2018. Reporter Byun Seon-gu

Lee Won-jong, former head of the Blue House, passed away on the 31st of a chronic illness. 82 years old.

Born in Samcheok, Gangwon-do, the deceased graduated from Kyungbok High School and Korea University Department of Economics. The deceased, while in business, in 1972 when Park Chung-hee saw the announcement of the then president’s Yushin (維新), resentful, “Can one coup twice,” and stepped into politics.

It was his meeting with former President Kim Young-sam (YS) that changed his life. Former GNP Vice President Kim Deok-ryong, a two-year junior at Gyeongbokgung High School, connected him to YS in 1974, who was a member of the Central Committee of the New Democratic Party. From then on, the deceased served as a public affairs secretary and became a person of YS. The world called him’Sangdo-dong Gasin’, and he stayed there for 24 years until YS resigned from the president.

In the Kim Young-sam administration, he was victorious. After YS took office in February 1993, he served as Vice Minister of Public Affairs for 10 months and Senior Secretary of Government Affairs at the Blue House for the rest of the year. 4 years and 2 months, the head of political affairs is the third longevity record, following Yoo Hyuk-in, the 1st head of political affairs (6 years) and the 2nd head of political affairs, Jeong Sang-cheon (5 years) in the days of former President Park Jeong-hee. Currently, all the Blue House chiefs are at the vice-minister level, but during YS, they were treated as ministers for 7 months.

Due to the nature of the work of politics, he was forced to engage in all kinds of Blue House affairs. As a result, he followed the modifiers such as’real life’,’the vice president’ and’the king’s head’. Together with YS’s son Hyun-cheol, former Prime Minister Lee Han-dong, former vice-president Kim Deok-ryong, and former president Kim Ki-soo, the executive director of the Kim Young-sam government’s Gyeongbok High School.

During the Blue House, he was called’Pitdae’ or’Hyeoljuk (血竹) teacher’. It was a nickname arising from the fiery personality that reporters used to build a blood on when they made critical comments about YS.

The last digit of the deceased’s cell phone number during his lifetime is ‘0003’. It was the back of the phone number I changed when I moved to my home in Hwagok-dong, Seoul in 1986. After that, the phone number I used at the Blue House office was ‘0003’. People around me used to say’the YS people’s mark’.

On December 23, 1993, President Kim Young-sam is taking a commemorative photo after awarding a letter of appointment to President Lee Won-jong of the Blue House. [사진 e영상역사관]

As such, he who supported YS all his life left the political scene after the Kim Young-sam administration ended. He ran for the National Assembly elections in Samcheok, Donghae, and Taebaek in Gangwon in 1985, and in Gangseo-gap, Seoul in 1988 and 1992, respectively, and then failed. YS offered to give him a gold badge after retirement, but he refused. Later, YS said, “I said that I would have a member of the National Assembly, but (former Lee) refused. I’ve never seen such a person.”

To reporters who were arguing with each other’s faces blushing, he left the Blue House and said, “I’m going to go to see wild flowers because I’m originally a savage.” I made a calendar by taking pictures of wild flowers in the mountains and fields of the country for three to four years, and I also formed a group with the idea of ​​preserving the unique culture of Korea.

Contributing to the JoongAng Ilbo in 2014 [나를 흔든 시 한 줄]In the book, he picked Kim Seon-woo’s poem’Flower, Spiritualism’ as his favorite poem. He said, “When I was working in public office, I thought about this big thing and couldn’t see my feet. After resigning from politics, I took a camera and wandered around the country to take pictures of wild flowers. Opened.” He said, “The wild flowers in our country are similar to the state and national circumstances,” he said. “Because I have to live in a barren environment, there are many limits and twists and turns.”

He did not neglect to learn even in old age. His 60th birthday started to study again in 2000, and in 2002 he received a master’s degree in Asia-Pacific area research from his alma mater, Korea University, and a doctorate in political science from Hanyang University in 2005. He lectured at Inha University, Myongji University, and Hanyang University, and in 2015, he wrote a book called “Korea Made by the People,” which dissected the constitutional history after the establishment of the government.

Whenever I had a chance, I was spared advice on real politics. In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo in 2018, he criticized, saying, “Politics is not functioning properly,” and “the people should know that they are scared.”

Bereaved are spouse Lee Bong-suk and daughter Shin-won. The funeral home is Sinchon Severance Hospital in Seoul, and it is scheduled to open on the 3rd.

Reporter Heo Jin [email protected]