Chung Mong-Joon: Read five facts about the FIFA contender

Paris: Five facts on Chung Mong-Joon, the South Korean industrialist and politician, who on Monday formally launched his bid to become president of football`s world governing body FIFA:

-- Chung Mong-Joon, 63, is the sixth son of Hyundai conglomerate founder Chung Ju-Yun. Educated at the prestigious Seoul National University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University, he controls Hyundai Heavy Industries, one of the world`s biggest engineering groups. That has taken his net worth well over $1 billion.

-- In football, he is already an honorary vice president of FIFA, having served on its executive committee from 1994 to 2011. A former head of the South Korean Football Association he was instrumental in bringing the first World Cup tournament to Asia when it was jointly held by South Korea and Japan in 2002.

-- In politics, Chung stood for the South Korean presidency in 2002. He agreed to back another candidate and then withdrew his support for him on the eve of the election. A longtime member of the South Korean national assembly, Chung also made a bid to become mayor of Seoul last year.

-- Chung still plays football and basketball in his spare time. In the past he has also been a competitive equestrian competitor and cross-country skier.

-- Chung on FIFA: "The real reason FIFA has become such a corrupt organisation is because the same person (Sepp Blatter) has been running it for 40 years. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."