Yonsei Alumni Buy House for Former School President

Yonsei University alumni raised 300 million won to buy a new house for Jeong Chang-yeong, the former president of the university, who recently stepped down.

A person related to the university said on November 7, “Jeong sold his house before he was inaugurated to pay debts caused by the bankruptcy of his son’s company, and he had nowhere to stay. So the vice-president of the alumni association, lawyer Lee Bum-gwan, and 10 other alumni donated funds for a new house for Jeong.”

Jeong’s son had around 5 billion won in debts after his venture company bankrupt in 2003. As Jeong had joint liability on the loan guarantees, he sold his land and apartment, and part of his salary was garnished by creditors.

The alumni association recently had a regular standing committee meeting where Jeong’s circumstances were reported to the association, and some alumni decided to help him.

pen@donga.com