(With Lee Hoi-chang having been formally appointed presidential candidate of the Grand National Party, the Chosun Ilbo carries three special articles on him, namely "Who Is Lee Hoi-chang?" "Lee's Policies on Politics, Foreign Relations, National Security and Unification" and "Lee's Policies on the Economy and Society. -- Editor's Note)

Who Is Lee Hoi-chang?

Lee Hoi-chang was born in Sohung County, Hwanghae Province in 1935, the third of three brothers and one sister. His family are from Yesan, South Chungchong Province and have two major characteristics; longevity - many members being nonagenarians, - and short stature. Serving as a junior administrator at the prosecutors' office upon graduation from Keijyo (Seoul) Law College under the Japanese colonial rule, his father, age 97, often moved from one place to another when given new assignments. In the wake of the inauguration in 1948 of the Republic of Korea government, he, having passed special legal officers appointment examinations, became a public prosecutor.

Lee Hoi-chang lived his boyhood in Cholla Province, the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. "When young, he kept guard at the home well," reminisces his mother, age 91. "Sent on errand to buy rice, he ascertained its quality by tasting some grains." His mother was born to a wealthy farming household in Tamyang County, South Cholla Province; all three of her brothers served as national legislators.

Lee attended Sosok Primary School in Kwangju, but no school records are available now. Passing the middle school qualification examinations in his fifth grade, he entered So Junior High School in Kwangju that year. As his father was reassigned to Chongju, North Chungchong Province, he moved to Chongju Junior High. In his seventh grade, he ran away from home because he scored only 20 points out of 60 points in a mathematics exam. "I feared that I was not qualified to lead a normal school life, and consequently that I would be unable to meet the expectations my parents place on me," he explains in his autobiography.

In his eighth grade, he moved to Seoul and enrolled in the prestigious Kyonggi Junior High School. He ranked 305th out of a total of 420 eighth graders, and advanced to 54th out of 425 ninth graders. His school records show "good" in the 10th and 11th grades and "excellent" in the 12th grade. His "negative" evaluation in positiveness and leadership in character in the 11th grade improved to "positive" in the 12th grade. His linguistic efficiency was rated as "precise."

Lee spent his senior high school days in Busan, where his family led a refugee life during the 1950-53 Korean War. "During his senior high school days, he organized a club defending the accused and learned the Korean self-defense art taekwondo," recalls his friend Nam Chong-hyu, chairman of the Autonomous Advertisement Deliberation Agency. "Many students at the time had long hair, smoked and drank. But Lee led a decent, upright life."

In 1953 Lee, as recommended by his father, entered the prestigious Law College of Seoul National University, and during his senior year passed the higher civil service examinations. Following a stint as an Air Force judge advocate, he was assigned to be a judge at the Inchon branch of the Seoul District Court in 1960 at the age of 25. Two years later he met his future wife Han In-ok at the introduction of a senior judge. A graduate of the Domestic Science Department, Teachers College, Seoul National University, she was a daughter of the then Seoul Appellate Court chief. "During matrimonial quarrels when we were young, my husband, if angry, kept silent or went into his study and shut the door behind him," his wife comments.

Except for the 11 months he dealt with criminal cases during his tenure as a judge, Lee handled civil cases only. He learned golfing in his mid-30s while being a judge. He is said to have been good at poker playing.

Lee took his first six-month overseas study course in 1970 at the University of California at Berkeley when he was a Seoul Appellate Court judge. At the end of the course, he was permitted to extend it by another six months, accompanied by his wife. But his strict father admonished him, "Having gone abroad for study as a judge, you should devote yourself solely to study. How could you think of inviting your wife? Stay there unaccompanied by your wife for another six months."

In 1981 he became a Supreme Court judge, over five years ahead of his classmates. A press comment at the time said, "Being scrupulous in character and seeking perfection in everything he does, it is talked about in the judicial circles that if he headed a district court, his subordinates would undergo lots of hardship."

In rulings on cases of political ideology, Lee presented progressive minority views. He is reputed for writing his rulings in a precise logical way. Acquitting a college student prosecuted on charges of private tutoring, he ruled, "Temporary private tutoring doesn't breach the rules banning tutoring" - a ruling dealing a blow to the then repressive Chun Doo-hwan administration, that touted banning private tutoring as one of its major achievements. The ruling earned him the nickname "straight and hard like bamboo." Having been denied re-appointment as a Supreme Court judge, however, he opened an attorney-at-law office.

Following the inauguration in 1988 of the Roh Tae-woo administration, Lee was reappointed a Supreme Court judge. While serving as this, he took part in a total of 40 full-panel decisions, in 13 of which he presented minority opinions. His following minority view on a 1992 case violating the National Security Law invited controversy; "... when it is difficult to regard acts, even if similar to the contents of propaganda employed as part of (the North's) espionage-agents infiltration strategy, as ones that specifically and feasibly threaten the destruction of the existence and security of the Republic of Korea now, the unlawfulness of such acts cannot but be denied."

While presiding over re-elections in Donghae City, Kangwon Province, and Yeongdeungpo B district in Seoul as concurrent Central Election Committee chairman in 1988, Lee indicted all candidates and election managers who violated the National Assembly Election Law, and sent letters of warning to all party presidents, including President Roh.

Heading the National Board of Audit and Inspection in 1993 under the Kim Young-sam government, Lee audited scandals involved in the Yulgok armaments imports and the Peace Dam construction project, purportedly carried out to defend the land against possible flooding from the North's Kumgangsan Dam then planned by the North for the purpose of inundating the South. "Leaving the office after duty hours he switched off the lights himself and ensured that all electric devices were all off," recalls his then chief secretary Shin Tok-hyon, 60.

Lee was named prime minister late that year. Asked what he would do if an inconvenient relationship developed between him and the president, he replied, "I don't know when my balloon will explode, but I'll exert myself so long as the balloon has air in it." The balloon exploded in 127 days due to a conflict over premier's powers. He said he submitted his resignation out of conviction. On the other hand, former President Kim Young-sam claimed in his memoir, "I engineered his resignation by threatening dismissal."

Hoi-chang launched his political career just prior to the 15th general elections held in 1996 when he was ranked first in the then ruling New Korea Party roster of National Assembly candidates on the proportional representation ticket, and accepted the party's electioneering committee chairmanship. At the time he told an interview, "Until I became a politician, I have lived a life free from abuse and slander as an individual." He became presidential candidate of the New Korea Party in one year and seven months, only to lose in the 1997 presidential election.

But he became Grand National Party president the following year. After expelling from the party a number of old guards including Kim Yun-hwan, Lee managed to make his party a powerful opposition party in the 16th Assembly elections with 133 seats. "When we tour provincial areas aboard a party bus, he sits upright throughout the tour, and we have never seen him taking a nap while on tour," say party officials. In private gatherings, however, he sometimes makes everyone present drink a glass of beer mixed with a smaller glass of whiskey in a round and has used abusive language. "On not a few occasions, not he but we, his aides, speak ill of him," comments one of his assistants. "He seems to be unable to touch others' hearts."