Lee Hae-chan obit

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan Dies at 74

Renowned Democratic Party Strategist and Founder of Sillim-dong's Gwangjang Books Passes Away in Vietnam

 

 He was not on the list.

Lee Hae-chan, former 36th Prime Minister of South Korea and Senior Vice Chairman of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC), passed away on the 25th at the age of 74.

According to the PUAC secretariat, Lee died at 2:48 p.m., local time, at Tam An Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The late Lee arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on the 22nd to attend the PUAC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference Steering Committee. However, he felt unwell the following morning on the 23rd and began emergency repatriation procedures. While at the Vietnamese airport, he showed symptoms of respiratory distress and was urgently transported to a local hospital.

Diagnosed with myocardial infarction upon arrival, Lee underwent emergency stent surgery but never regained consciousness.

Born in 1952 in Cheongyang, South Chungcheong Province, Lee entered Seoul National University’s sociology department and became a first-generation student activist after the October 1972 Yushin Constitution. In 1978, he opened the bookstore "Gwangjang Books" in Sillim-dong near Seoul National University, which served as a spiritual pillar for the student movement as a representative social sciences bookstore.

After serving prison terms for the 1974 Mincheonghakryeon Incident and the 1980 Kim Dae-jung insurrection conspiracy case, he entered the National Assembly in 1988 at the age of 36, representing the Seoul Gwanak-gu district in the 13th general election. He was re-elected five times in Gwanak and moved his constituency to Sejong City for the 19th general election in 2012, serving as a seven-term lawmaker.

In 1998, at age 46, Lee was appointed Minister of Education under the Kim Dae-jung administration. During his tenure, he announced plans to expand university admissions without entrance exams, stating, "Students can enter college if they excel in one area." Students prepared for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) complacently based on the government’s announcement, but the 2002 academic year’s exam reached the highest difficulty level in history, causing chaos. Students’ academic performance had already declined significantly, public education collapsed, and distrust grew. Consequently, the private education market in Daechi-dong rapidly expanded. This led to the term "Lee Hae-chan generation," carrying negative connotations.

Lee was appointed Prime Minister in 2004 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, earning titles like "responsible Prime Minister" and "powerful Prime Minister." He also led the design of Sejong City, the administrative central complex.

He held key positions in Democratic Party-affiliated parties, including policy committee chairman of the National Congress for New Politics, Supreme Council member of the Millennium Democratic Party, senior advisor of the Uri Party, Grand Unified Democratic New Party, and Democratic United Party, representative of the Democratic United Party, and senior advisor of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy and the Democratic Party of Korea. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the Democratic Party of Korea’s representative during the Moon Jae-in administration. In the 2024 general election, he was the Democratic Party’s senior co-campaign chairman and assumed the role of PUAC Senior Vice Chairman in October last year after the Lee Jaemyung administration took office.

Lee was a renowned strategist and election expert in the ruling party, contributing to the rise of the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in administrations. Though he retired from politics in August 2020 after completing his term as Democratic Party representative, he maintained influence as a senior advisor. He supported President Lee Jaemyung, a non-mainstream figure within the party who was criticized by pro-Moon factions, and is credited with helping Lee establish himself as a presidential candidate. In 2022, while serving as Democratic Party representative, President Lee attended Lee Hae-chan’s memoir publication ceremony and called him "the adult I respect the most." However, Lee’s blunt and stubborn personality often led to controversies.