Kim Dae-jung
From Freepedia
Kim Dae-jung (Hangul: 김대중; Hanja: 金大中; Revised: Gim Daejung; McCune-Reischauer: Kim Taejung; born December 3, 1925) is a South Korean politician. Long an opposition leader, he became president (after Kim Young-sam) in 1997 and remained in office until 2003. He was born in Haeui-do, South Jeolla Province, an island off the South Korean Coast.
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Early political career
Image:Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il.jpg
He first entered politics in 1954, opposing the policies of Syngman Rhee. Although he was elected as a representative for the parliament in 1961, a military coup led by Park Chung Hee made it void. He rose to become an eminent opposition leader during 1960s, which culminated in running a presidential campaign in 1971. He managed a close race against Park despite several handicaps imposed by the ruling regime.
Kim was almost killed in August 1973, when he was kidnapped from a hotel in Tokyo by KCIA agents in response to his criticism of President Park's yushin program. Upon hearing of the kidnapping, U.S. Ambassador Philip Habib ordered his aides to find where Kim was being hidden. After finding that he had been kidnapped by South Korean agents, Habib hastily informed Park about what had happened. As a result, Kim, who had been tied to a boat and was going to be drowned in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), was freed. After learning of American objections to the KCIA's use of torture, Park fired the intelligence chief, Lee Hu Rak. [1]
Although Kim returned to Seoul alive, he was banned from politics and imprisoned in 1976 for having participated in the proclamation of an anti-government manifesto. During this period he converted to Catholicism.
In 1980, Kim was sentenced to death on charges of sedition and conspiracy in the wake of another coup by Chun Doo-hwan and a popular uprising in Gwangju, his political stronghold. With the intervention of the United States government, the sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison and later he was given exile to the U.S.
Road to the presidency
After his return to South Korea in 1985, he resumed his role as one of the principal leaders of the political opposition. When the first democratic presidential election was held in 1987 after ex-general Chun Doo-hwan's retirement, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam, his longtime political comrade and rival, ran against each other. That split the opposition vote and enabled ex-general Roh Tae-woo, Chun Doo-hwan's hand-picked successor, to win.
Kim Dae-jung made another failed bid for the presidency in 1992, this time solely against Kim Young-sam who became the successor of Roh Tae-woo. However in his fourth bid in 1997, he finally won the election to replace Kim Young-sam as president.
The preceding presidents Park Chung Hee, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, and Kim Young-sam all came from the relatively wealthy Gyeongsang region. Kim Dae-jung was the first president to serve out his full term who came from the Jeolla region in the southwest, an area that traditionally has been neglected and less developed, at least partly because of discriminatory policies of previous presidents.
Presidency
Kim Dae-jung took office in the midst of the economic crisis that hit South Korea in the final year of Kim Young-sam's term. He vigorously pushed economic reform and restructuring to revitalize the economy, yielding some noticeable results in the South Korean economy.
His policy of engagement with North Korea is called the Sunshine Policy. In 2000, he participated in the first North-South presidential summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, talks for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
See also
External links
| Preceded by: Kim Young-sam | President of South Korea 1997-2003 | Succeeded by: Roh Moo-hyun |
Categories: 1925 births | Nobel Peace Prize winners | Presidents of South Korea | Roman Catholics | Roman Catholic politicians
