Funeral ceremony held for president's father

The burial ceremony for President Yoon Suk Yeol's father, Yoon Ki-jung, a professor emeritus of Yonsei University, took place Thursday. "He dedicated his whole life to researching econometrics and contributed to nurturing young economists," Yoon said

President Yoon Suk Yeol, second from left, and first lady Kim Keon-hee, third from left, walk behind a portrait of the president’s late father, Yoon Ki-jung, during a funeral procession at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, Thursday morning. The late Yonsei University professor was later buried in a cemetery in Gyeonggi. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

The burial ceremony for President Yoon Suk Yeol's father, Yoon Ki-jung, a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, took place Thursday.

The funeral ceremony took place that morning for around 30 minutes at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, with some 20 family members and relatives, the professor's students, economists, presidential aides and People Power Party leadership, said the presidential office.

Yoon Ki-jung, an economist who specialized in applied statistics, died Tuesday, coinciding with Liberation Day, at the age of 92.

The funeral procession, including President Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee, passed Yonsei University's College of Commerce and Economics, where Prof. Yoon had taught.

Prof. Yoon was buried later Thursday in a cemetery in Gyeonggi, in the presence of family, friends and students, according to the office.

The late professor's books, "Analysis of Inequality in the Korean Economy" and "Petty's Economics," a translation of the works of 17th-century English economist and philosopher William Petty, were dedicated during the burial ceremony.

"Thank you to everyone who mourned the death of my father," Yoon said, according to Lee Do-hoon, the presidential spokesman, in a statement Thursday.

Since Tuesday, President Yoon received an outpour of condolences from Cabinet members, politicians, lawmakers, leaders of society and close acquaintances of his father during a three-day family funeral service at Severance Hospital.

Born in Gongju, South Chungcheong, the late Yoon obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Yonsei University in 1956 and 1958. He later became the first Korean recipient of a Japanese government scholarship in 1967 and undertook further study in economics at Hitotsubashi University, one of Tokyo's leading institutions in social sciences.

In 1968, Yoon became a professor at Yonsei University's College of Commerce and Economics.

During an academic career spanning nearly four decades, he authored several textbooks on statistical analysis and published multiple research papers on income inequality in Korea.

A presidential official told reporters that the late Prof. Yoon's 1997 book on inequality in the Korean economy has been "recognized in academia as research results that marked a milestone in the field of income and wealth distribution and inequality," an area that had previously not been studied in depth.

President Yoon was quoted by the official as saying in memory of his father, "He dedicated his whole life to researching econometrics and contributed to nurturing young economists."

The president then spent the rest of the day preparing for his trilateral summit ahead of his scheduled departure for the United States later Thursday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, takes part in a funeral procession for his father, Yoon Ki-jung, at Severance Hospital Seodaemun District, western Seoul, Thursday morning. The late Yonsei University professor was later buried in a cemetery in Gyeonggi. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]