“Pony Chung,” Chung Se-yung, Passes Away

Hyundai Development Company honorary chairman Chung Se-yung, who had been called “a live history of Korean automobile industry,” died on May 21.

Chung recently caught pneumonia due to big daily rise and fall in temperature, and was admitted to the Asan Medical Center, which is located in Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on May 16. Since then, he received treatment in the hospital, but his condition became worse. He passed away at around 12:30p.m., on May 21, five days after he entered the hospital. He died at the age of 77.

The late Chung, who was born at Songjeon-myeon, Tongcheon-gun, Gangwon Province, in 1928, and was the fourth younger brother of the late Hyundai Group honorary chairman Chung Ju-yung, joined Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. in 1957.

In 1967, the late Chung founded the Hyundai Motor Company and became the company’s first chief executive officer. He developed a passenger car, the Pony, which was the first automobile made by Korea, in 1974, and then after two years, in 1976, he exported the car abroad to achieve a great success with the Pony.

He is survived by his wife Park Young-ja (69), his eldest son Mong-gyu, and two daughters, Sook-young and Yoo-gyeong. The mortuary is located in the Asan Medical Center. The funeral ceremony will be held at a grass square in the hospital at 8:00 a.m., May 25, 2005. He will be buried in the cemetery in Yangsoo-ri, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi province.

Jae-Seong Hwang Im-Su Jeong jsonhng@donga.com imsoo@donga.com