The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced that his father, the renowned economist Yoon Ki-jung, passed away at the age of 92 on Tuesday. The deceased, who was an honorary professor at Yonsei University, was hospitalized due to an unspecified illness and died shortly after President Yoon delivered a speech commemorating Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945.
In a statement, Yoon's office said: "The president went to the hospital after the Liberation Day celebration this morning and was with his father when he passed away." American officials noted that President Yoon is scheduled to leave the country on Tuesday to attend the first standalone trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David in Maryland, where they will launch a series of joint initiatives in technology, education, and defense.
Yoon's office announced that the president decided to hold a private funeral limited to family members to avoid any "vacuum in state affairs," without providing further details. The late president's father was known for his research on inequality and economic growth in South Korea using statistical methods.
