KEI Contributor

Duck Koo Chung is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategies and International Studies (CSIS). He served as the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Energy of the Republic of Korea during President Kim Dae-Jung's administration (1999-2000). He is also the founder of the Northeast Asia Research Foundation (NEAR Foundation), South Korea's premier privately-funded independent think-tank, and currently serves as its chairman. Chung embarked on his career as a government official in 1971, dedicating nearly three decades of service. During the onset of the Korean financial crisis, Chung, a Vice Minister of Finance at the time, played a pivotal role in the early resolution of Korea’s liquidity crisis as a chief negotiator with the IMF. In said capacity, Chung served with distinction, shortening the period of agony for the Korean people during the crisis. Mr. Chung is widely regarded as the leading voice for Korea’s open-door policy.

After retirement from the cabinet, Mr. Chung became a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University and served as the director of the Seoul National University Center for International Finance. In 2003, Peking University in China invited him as a Distinguished Chair professor, where he taught Korean Economic Development and Open-Door Policy. In 2005, he served as a visiting professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, where he taught the International Monetary Regime and the future prospects of the yuan. 

In 2013, he was appointed as a policy advisor at CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). During the early years of Xi Jinping's first term, the Chinese government recommended that Mr. Chung lead special lectures and academic seminars involving distinguished policymakers, bureaucrats, and high-ranking officials from 18 government departments. Mr. Chung is the author of numerous books including The Impact of Xi Jinping’s New Era on Korea and the World, Korea’s Grand Strategies to Overcome Chinese Expansionism I & II, North Korea-China Relations at a Crossroads: China's Dilemma in North Korea Policy and Memoir of the 1997 Korea Financial Crisis: Does History Repeat Itself.