Attorney Chung Kwang-jin, who founded a scholarship foundation after losing his three daughters in the 1995 Sampung Department Store collapse, passed away on the afternoon of the 19th at the age of 85.
After graduating from Seoul National University Law School and passing the first bar exam in 1963, Mr. Chung served as a judge for 13 years before opening his own law practice in 1978 to pay for the medical treatment of his blind daughter, Ms스포츠토토. Chung Yoon-min, who was 29 when she died in 1995.
Mr. Chung lost Yoon Min, his second daughter Yoo Jung, 28, and third daughter Yoon Kyung, 25, in the June 29, 1995, Sampung Department Store collapse. It was nine months after Yoon Min had returned to Korea in 1988 with a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and became a teacher at the Seoul School for the Blind.
After the tragedy, Mr. Chung established a scholarship foundation with 650 million won in compensation and 1.35 billion won from his personal fortune. He named it the Samyoon Scholarship Foundation after his three daughters and donated it to the Seoul School for the Blind, his eldest daughter’s alma mater and first job.
At the time, Jung’s wife, Lee Jung-hee, explained that the foundation was meant to “replace Yoon Min-yi’s unfulfilled dream of becoming a light for the blind.”
The wake will be held in Room 3 of the funeral home at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The service will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 22, and the burial site is Xian Park in the Forest of Tranquility in Yongin.
By Sewon Lim (say1@news1.kr)