Chung was born in Ussuriysk in Primorsky Krai, Russia, where his father worked as an interpreter for the Imperial Russian Army.

However, in 1930, the family relocated to what is now Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Manchuria, where Chung grew up in extreme poverty.

[1] Due to his excellent grades in school, Chung won a place at the Manchukuo Imperial Army academy in Mukden, from which he graduated in September 1937.

Again, his performance was regarded as excellent, and he was sent on to attend the 55th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in Tokyo, where he specialized in cavalry operations.

[2] His initial responsibilities included regrouping the routed South Korean military forces and coordinating their efforts with the United Nations Command.

[3] He returned to the United States for additional training in July 1951 following the National Defense Corps Incident and the Geochang massacre.

Although he continued political activities in 1992 for the Democratic Republican Party in 1993, particularly in support of Kim Young-sam during the 1992 Korean presidential election, he was re-hospitalized in Hawaii in January 1994 due to cancer, and died there.