30 Facts About Chang Myon

Chang Myon was a South Korean statesman, educator, diplomat, journalist and social activist as well as a Roman Catholic youth activist.

Chang Myon was the only prime minister of the parliamentary Second Republic.

Under Japanese rule, Chang worked in education as a school teacher, administrator, and principal.

Chang Myon's government ended when Park Chung Hee led a successful military coup on May 16,1961.

Chang Myon was the first son of Chang Gi-bin and Lucia Hwang.

Chang Myon's father was a revenue officer of the seaport of Incheon and later became superintendent of customs of the seaport of Busan.

Chang Myon then went to Incheon Public Simsang Elementary School, graduating in 1914.

Chang Myon later attended Suwon Agriculture High School, and he graduated on May 25,1917.

Chang Myon participated in the 1919 March 1 Movement protests against Japanese colonial rule, but escaped arrest.

In January 1921, Chang Myon went to the United States with his younger brother Chang Bal to study.

Chang Myon translated religious terms for Catholic teaching into the Korean language and published The Summary of Religious Terms in November 1929.

Chang Myon translated James Gibbons' The Faith of Our Fathers: A Plain Exposition and Vindication of the Church Founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ into Korean on July 4,1944.

In November 1950, Chang Myon was appointed the second Prime Minister of the First Republic of Korea, a position he at first refused, but after an earnest request from Syngman Rhee, he accepted and went on to serve from October 1951 until April 29,1952.

Chang Myon was sent to the sixth UN General Assembly held in Paris, France.

Police claimed that Chang Myon was working with assassins paid by North Korea to depose Rhee.

On May30,1956, Chang Myon was duly elected the fourth vice president of the Republic of Korea.

Chang Myon had attempted to become a candidate for the presidency, but he lost by a narrow margin, this time to Cho.

In May 1960, Chang Myon was a candidate in the election for a National Assembly seat.

Hence, the administration led by Prime Minister Chang Myon faced volatile political and grievous socioeconomic difficulties.

In 1961, the Chang Myon administration attempted to resume talks on a treaty of relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea and discussed eight of the proposed articles designed to normalize diplomatic ties.

On March 30,1962, the Park Military Government detained Chang Myon and prohibited him from engaging in any further political activity.

On January 27,1966, Chang Myon was hospitalized with hepatitis at the Holy Mother Hospital in Seoul, and on June 4,1966, he died in Jongro at the age of 66.

Chang Myon was buried in the Hehwa Catholic Church burial site on the mountain Cheonbosan in Gyeonggi Province.

The first child, Anna Chang Myon Myeong-sook, died before age one, and the second child, Joseph Chang Myon Young died at age two.

Chang Myon had two younger brothers and three younger sisters.

The older, Louis Chang Myon Bal, was an artist and dean of the College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University ; the younger, Paul Chang Myon Geuk, Ph.

Chang Myon believed in individualism in the context of common good.

Chang Myon lived in a small, unpretentious house where he and his spouse spent most of their life and raised seven children.

Chang Myon influenced the conversion of Kim Dae-jung to Catholicism and became his godfather.

Kim later remarked that Chang Myon was a "devout Catholic who believed in Catholic action to rectify many evils in Korea".