Black-clad business leaders, foreign ambassadors and relatives gathered yesterday at a funeral ceremony for Chung Mong-hun, a top executive of the Hyundai conglomerate who committed suicide earlier this week.
Up to 2,000 people attended the ceremony for Chung, whose death on Monday cast doubt on the future of economic projects that he was promoting in North Korea. The projects are a key element of South Korea's efforts to reconcile with its isolated, communist neighbor.
Later, a hearse carried Chung's casket to a family burial ground southeast of Seoul. His widow, Hyun Jeong-un, and family members took turns shoveling dirt onto his casket. Family members wept, while most of those attending stood in somber silence.
At the funeral ceremony at a Seoul hospital, mourners bowed deeply before a large, framed photograph of Chung on an outdoor altar decorated with white chrysanthemums.
"Why did you have to leave when there is much more to do and a long road ahead?" said a tearful Sohn Kil-seung, chief of the Federation of Korean Industries, a business leaders' group.
"Who will fill your empty space?" Sohn said in his memorial address.
Chung, 54, jumped to his death from his office window in downtown Seoul. His company, Hyundai-Asan, had been losing heavily on investments in North Korea, and he was embroiled in a scandal over a 2000 summit between the two Koreas.
"Chairman Chung pushed North Korean projects with special effort and affection as there were voices of concern from some," said Kim Yoon-kyu, president of Hyundai-Asan. Chung's late father and Hyundai founder, Chung Ju-yung, had initiated business ventures in the North, his birthplace.
Earlier this week, North Korea expressed condolences and said it was temporarily suspending a joint tourism project with South Korea. The tours to Diamond Mountain on the North's east coast were a financial disaster for Hyundai-Asan, but a symbol of cooperation on the divided Korean Peninsula.
Yesterday, Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean newspaper, said Chung's death was a "political murder" committed by conservative South Korean politicians who were "displeased with the development of the inter-Korean relations."
In a suicide note, Chung had asked that his ashes be scattered over Diamond Mountain. But family members decided to bury him close to Seoul, allowing them to visit his grave regularly.
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