He also served a brief stint as South Korea's acting prime minister in August 2002 under president Kim Dae-jung, but the National Assembly voted not to confirm him.

and Ph.D. in economics and management from New York University, where he wrote his 1987 doctoral dissertation on South Korean construction firms in the Middle East.

The nomination was a surprise to fellow top-level civil servants in their 60s, as Chang was just 50 years old at the time, and had no experience in government.

[9] However, during his confirmation hearings, Grand National Party (GNP) members including Hong Joon-pyo and Ahn Kyung-ryul expressed their opposition.

[10][11] Chang himself also acknowledged in a press conference that he had falsely registered himself as living in Seoul's Gangnam District to enroll his son in a better school.