After Chung joined the GNP, he immediately sought a re-election for Gongju-Yeongi at the
2008 election, but failed to become the candidate. Instead, he ran 8th in the GNP list and was elected. On 8 June 2010, he became the President of the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly.
Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs (2010–2011) On 13 July 2010, Chung was nominated
Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs by the President Lee Myung-bak. He then subsequently resigned as an MP due to a law that prohibiting MPs to hold positions of the
Blue House; the vacancy was succeeded by
Kim Sung-dong, son of the former Speaker
Kim Soo-han. The GNP was undergoing internal conflicts between pro-Lee Myung-bak and pro-
Park Geun-hye faction over several issues, including the construction of
Sejong City. One of Chung's first moves as Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs was the arbitration between Lee and Park. He organised meetings between two key figures of the party at the Blue House; He also coordinated a project to make Park as the Lee's special envoy to
Netherlands,
Portugal and
Greece in April 2011. Despite several criticisms during this period, his projects were widely regarded as successful.
Secretary-General of the National Assembly (2013–2014) After the resignation on 10 June 2011, He contested against
Chyung Ho-joon, a son of
Chyung Dai-chul who was the former 5-term MP for the constituency. He failed to make a comeback by securing 28,904 votes (46.33%) that was lower than Chyung's 31,364 votes (50.27%). Instead, he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Speaker
Kang Chang-hee on 2 July. On 27 December, shortly after
Park Geun-hye was elected President, Chung was nominated Secretary-General of the National Assembly. 193 out of 224 MPs voted in favour of his appointment on 1 January 2013. He oversaw several parliamentary reforms, including the establishment of
suicide prevention facilities at the National Assembly Secretariat, as well as changing its temporary workers into full-time. He resigned on 27 February 2014 in order to run as the Governor of South Chungcheong at the
local elections in June. He won Saenuri preselection but lost to the incumbent
Ahn Hee-jung.
Parliamentary leader of the Saenuri Party (2016) In the
2016 election, Chung contested for Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang and defeated the
Democratic candidate
Park Soo-hyun. Nevertheless, his Saenuri Party suffered an upset crushing defeat, which resulted in a
hung parliament.
Kim Moo-sung subsequently resigned as party president, which let the position to be vacant until a new person is elected. On 1 May, Chung launched his bid to run for the parliamentary leadership. 2 days later, he defeated
Na Kyung-won and
Yoo Ki-june by receiving 69 out of 119 votes. which he hold until being replaced by
Kim Hee-ok on 2 June. He also led a negotiation with
Woo Sang-ho (Democratic) and
Park Jie-won (People's) on 8 June. The Saenuri lost 2 committees (the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts) to the Democratic. was taken by the Democratic during the last session (2012–2016), but was handed over to the Saenuri in this time. The President Park Geun-hye was under public pressure to resign following a report of
JTBC about
Choi Soon-sil on 24 October. While 3 opposition parties (Democratic, People's, and Justice) agreed to bring the impeachment vote, Chung previously mentioned that the Saenuri would not vote against. On 9 December, 234 out of 300 MPs (1 did not attend) voted in favour of the impeachment of Park, and therefore Park's duty was immediately suspended. The next day,
JoongAng Ilbo analysed that about 62 Saenuri MPs voted for, and 20 out of 62 are pro-Park MPs. 2 days later, Chung made an official announcement to step down as the parliamentary leader, saying, "As the parliamentary leader of the ruling party, I think it is reasonable to be responsible for the impeachment vote." == Return to Opposition ==