He is the sixth son of Chung Ju-yung, founder of Hyundai, the second-largest South Korean chaebol before its breakup in 2003.

Those of Koreans who despised Jeolla province supported the GNP, and the party exploited such sentiments for its political gains of denouncing President Kim and his government.

Throughout President Kim' term, the GNP was accused by civil rights groups and media for instigating anti Jeolla sentiments.

[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Chung and Roh Moo-hyun objected such self-destroying regionalism in South Korea, and advocated reconciliation between Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces.

On Dec 18 afternoon, before the crowd of his supporters in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Roh suggested Chung Dong-young and Choo Mi-ae as viable choices of candidates for the next presidential race in 2007.

[26] Nevertheless, Roh went on to win the election on the following day for the victory of all of those Koreans who wished to see regionalism end in South Korea.

[29] Chung's brother Chung Mong-hun, then the president of Hyundai Asan who pioneered South and North joint Mount Kumgang tour business, committed suicide on Aug 4, 2003 when he was investigated by prosecutors for his alleged $400 million cash remit to North Korea shortly before the 2000 North-South summit.

Initially this suspicion was raised from US when Congressional Research Service reported such allegation from a CIA source on March 5, 2002.

[40] Shortly after Roh's inauguration, the GNP passed the law entitling special prosecutors to investigate this case, taking advantage of its majority seats in National Assembly.

The party tried to dig and disclose Chung's private life information to defame him in the 2002 presidential election[49] These included his alleged prior diagnosis of mental disorder in school years, his cheating incidence during final exam in college years, questionable identity of his real mother, discredit of his Johns Hopkins University doctoral degree, etc.

[49] Chung was known to be suspended and repeat courses for cheating final exam when he was a freshman in Seoul National University.

They speculated that his real mother could be a house maid, a geisha, or a particular traditional musician whom Chung Ju-yung had an affair with.

[52] The media gathered that information after interviewing inside personnel, and found that Hyundai Heavy Industries Group distributed gift certificates to thousands of their employees to purchase Chung's autobiography.

[52] On top of publishing his autobiography, Chung also donated huge sums of money and set up a charity foundation in 2011, a year before 2012 presidential election.

[53] He contributed $200 million worth of Korean won from selling approximately 5% of his assets and established the Asan Sharing Foundation, which offers educational opportunities and financial assistance to young people from low income families.

He said he funded it to commemorate his late father Chung Ju-yung, but many couldn't dismiss reasonable suspicion that his motivation was to impress the public before the presidential election.

[59] When Park wrote an article about North Korean issue in Foreign Affairs, Chung discredited it claiming someone else had written it under her name.