POSCO founder Park Tae-joon was in critical condition Tuesday at Severance Hospital in western Seoul after developing an acute lung injury, officials said.

Park, 84, underwent an operation to remove one of his lungs and pulmonary pleura on Sunday, the hospital said in a statement. He has been suffering from side effects related to a 2001 surgery in the U.S. for a large tumor.

“The surgery results are not very good,” said Han Jin-ho, a hospital spokesperson. “We can’t conclude how long he has left, but his condition is not likely to improve.”

Born in Busan in 1927 and raised in Japan, Park was one of the masterminds behind Korea’s miraculous economic ascent.

At the onset of the country’s second five-year development program, Park initiated a plan in 1969 to build an integrated steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, with state and Japanese support.

With his slogan “make steel serve the country,” he transformed what the World Bank saw as an overly ambitious project into one of the world’s largest steel plants in a little more than a decade. POSCO now competes with global players such as Arcelor Mittal and Nippon Steel Corp.

Park entered politics after 25 years at POSCO and weathered many storms in becoming prime minister in 1997 for the Kim Dae-jung administration.

After retirement, Park has focused on social contribution projects at home and abroad.

He remains honorary chairman of POSCO. The steel giant also runs a foundation named after Park to nurture promising local scientists.

“As the proverb goes, life is short and the fatherland is immortal. There may be desperation but not absolute despair. Those were like guidelines for my entire life and I never regret the path I’ve chosen,” he said last year.



By Shin Hyon-hee
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)