South Korea

Former South Korea president dies

Article published on the 2009-08-18 Latest update 2009-08-18 11:44 TU

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (R) and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung during a historic summit between the two countries in 2000
(Photo: AFP)

Kim Dae-Jung, the former South Korean president and Nobel peace prize winner, died on Tuesday after being hospitalized for pneumonia. 85 year-old Kim was known for his campaigning for democracy as well as for his attempts to repair relations across the border with North Korea by holding their first-ever summit.

"We lost a great political leader today," South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said in a statement. "His accomplishments and aspirations to achieve democratisation and inter-Korean reconciliation will long be remembered by the people," he said.

Kim campaigned stringently against the dictator Park Chung-Hee during his 1961-1979 reign, and was kidnapped in Tokyo in 1973 by Korean CIA agents. He was rescued by a last-minute intervention by the US and Japan.

Seven years later, he was arrested, tried and sentenced to death for treason during Chun Doo-Hwan's martial law era. The US pressured Chun to release him.

"I hope former President Kim, who underwent a stormy political life, will rest peacefully in the bosom of God," Chun told reporters.

Kim became president in 1997, after his fourth bid. A devout Catholic, he believed in forgiveness, and one of his first acts as president was to pardon Chun who had been convicted of treason and corruption.

He also ushered in financial reforms during the height of the Asian economic crisis in mid-to-late 1990s and won praise from his former detractors, who had labelled him a communist.