Yoon Ki-jung, father of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (Yonhap)
Yoon Ki-jung, the father of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and an emeritus professor in the applied statistics department at Yonsei University, has died, the presidential office announced Tuesday. He was 92.
Yoon had recently been admitted to Seoul National University Hospital. The cause of death was not disclosed.
President Yoon went to be by his father‘s side during his final moments, after delivering a speech marking the nation’s 78th Liberation Day in the morning, according to the presidential office.
Yoon plans to hold a small, three-day, funeral for family at Severance Hospital in western Seoul to avoid a vacuum in state affairs. No condolence flowers or visits will be accepted, his office added.
Those in the political circle have expressed their condolences.
The top four positions of the ruling People Power Party -- party leader, floor leader, policy committee chair and secretary general -- will pay condolence visits this afternoon, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is talking over whether to make condolence visits.
As an economic statistician, Yoon Ki-jung studied the relationship between economic growth and income inequality during his academic career.
Born in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, in 1931, he graduated from Gongju Agricultural High School, and completed his undergraduate and Master‘s degrees in economics at Yonsei University, followed by further graduate studies in economics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan.
Yoon served first as a professor in the economics department at Hanyang University and later in the applied statistics department at Yonsei University’s College of Commerce and Economics until 1997.
He was president of the Korean Statistical Society from 1977 to 1979 as well as president of the Korean Economic Association in 1992. He served as dean of Yonsei‘s College of Commerce and Economics from 1990 to 1992. He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001 in recognition of his contributions to the field of economics.
Meanwhile, President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to attend US President Joe Biden‘s trilateral summit along with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David in Maryland Friday as scheduled. His departure time, however, might be subject to change depending on the funeral proceedings.
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