[Newsmaker] Family, business community mourns KCC honorary chairman

Local business leaders paid tribute on Sunday to KCC’s Honorary Chairman Chung Sang-young, who died Saturday at the age of 84.

The youngest brother of the late Hyundai Group Honorary Chairman Chung Ju-young, the KCC chief suffered from a chronic illness and had been hospitalized recently after his health deteriorated.

He was the only surviving member of his generation within the legendary Chung family that built South Korea’s big companies, including Hyundai, in postwar Korea. Many younger family members are executives at various companies.

On Sunday, Chung Euisun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group and a grandnephew of the deceased KCC chairman, visited the funeral altar at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. Other family members and relatives also paid their tributes. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the bereaved family didn’t receive mourners from the public.

Chung Sang-young was born in 1934 in Tongchon, Kangwon Province, in what is now North Korea. He founded Keumkang Slate Industries in 1958, when he was 22, and was at the forefront of managing the business for some 60 years.

In 1974, Chung founded the Korea Chemical Company to enter the varnish industry, and established the Keumkang Engineering and Construction Company in 1989.

Through a merger, Korea Chemical and Keumkang Slate Industries, which had changed its name to Keumkang Limited in 1976, became Keumkang KCC in 2000.

Five years later, the company was renamed the KCC Corp., with its business encompassing silicone and other advanced materials.

It was under Chung Sang-young’s management that his company came to develop and produce the materials for silicone. The country previously relied on imports.

Chung Sang-young’s three sons now lead the group and its affiliates.

Chung Mong-jin, the eldest, was inaugurated as president of KCC in 2005. His second son Chung Mong-ik is the president of KCC Glass and the youngest, Chung Mong-yeol, leads KCC Engineering and Construction.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)