(The South Korean opposition leader who spent much of the ...)
The South Korean opposition leader who spent much of the time between 1973 and 1979 in prison or under house arrest shares his views on Korea's history, culture, and politics, and his own destiny
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520054822/?tag=2022091-20
(Book by Kim Dae-jung)
Book by Kim Dae-jung
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1884445330/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006F8SG2/?tag=2022091-20
Kim Dae-jung was born on December 3, 1925, on an island off the southwestern coast of Korea. His father was a farmer on the island, but his family moved to Mokpo, the second largest city in the South Cholla province, where Kim helped run his family's small inn.
He received his graduation degree from a commercial high school in 1943.
He attended Kunkook University, Korea University, and Kyunghui University, where he completed a two-year graduate program in economics in 1970. Between 1983 and 1984, while in exile in the United States, he was a fellow at the Center of International Affairs at Harvard University.
In 1983 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Emory University. He also received an honorary doctorate at the University of Portland on 17 April 2008 where he delivered his speech, "Challenge, Response, and God. "
From 1949 to 1953 he successfully managed a marine shipping firm and also published the daily newspaper The Mokpo Ilbo. With the onset of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, and the Communist North Korean takeover of the city, Kim was imprisoned by the Communists. Later he and his brother narrowly escaped a massacre by the retreating North Koreans.
Kim entered politics in 1954 and was elected to the unicameral National Assembly in 1961. He was re-elected in 1963, 1967, and 1971. He served as spokesperson and chairperson of the policy committee of the Minjung Party (1965-1967) and as executive committee member of the Democratic, Minjung, and New Democratic parties, respectively, through 1971. As legislator he served as a member of committees dealing with the economy and with defense.
In 1971 Kim ran unsuccessfully against incumbent President Park Chung Hee as a standard-bearer of the New Democratic Party. But Kim received 46 percent of the popular vote and emerged as a formidable challenger to the incumbent. Two years earlier he had spearheaded the unsuccessful parliamentary effort to stop Park from changing the constitution to allow himself a third term. The 1971 election was the last popular presidential election that had an effective opposition candidate.
Following the 1971 election Kim Dae-jung was subjected to numerous life-threatening trials and prosecutions. He almost lost his life in a suspicious automobile "accident" during the 1971 presidential campaign. In August of 1973, during a self-imposed exile and a stay in Japan following a trip to the United States, Kim was abducted from his Tokyo hotel by operatives of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). Kim said that he was twice threatened on board the ship that smuggled him back to Korea. This incident focused world attention on Kim's case.
Back in Korea Kim faced court action stemming from charges brought during the 1967 and 1971 elections. He was imprisoned for two years and subsequently placed under house arrest. On March 1, 1976, while still under house arrest, Kim joined 19 other dissidents to issue a call for the restoration of democracy. For this incidence Kim was imprisoned under a five-year sentence. He remained in prison until December of 1978, when he was again returned to house arrest. Kim was not released until December 8, 1979, following the assassination of President Park Chung Hee on October 26 of that same year.
During the post-Park era, now celebrated as the "spring of democracy, " Kim Dae-jung was one of the three men named Kim who would campaign in what was expected to be a peaceful, direct, and fair election of the next president. The others were Kim Jong Pil, a former prime minister under Park, and Kim Young-sam, a prominent opposition leader. However, a May 17, 1980, military coup led by Lt. Chun Doo Hwan and the subsequent Kwangju uprising abruptly ended the spring of democracy and resulted in the arrest of Kim Dae-jung and many other democratic leaders. Kim was subsequently tried in a military court and sentenced to death on what the U. S. Department of State called "far-fetched" charges. Because of international pressures, Chun's government reduced the sentence—first to life in prison in January of 1981, and then to 20 years imprisonment in March of 1982. In December of 1982 Kim was sent to the United States "for medical treatment. "
Kim returned to Korea in 1985, and ran in the presidential campaign in South Korea in 1987. The other candidates for the office of president were, Kim Young Sam, Roh Tae Woo, and Kim Jong Pil. A new Korean constitution was approved on October 27, 1987, allowing the populace to chose one of the four candidates as the country's new leader. Roh Tae Woo won the election with 37 percent of the vote. When Kim ran for president again in 1992, a spy scandal rocked his Party for Peace and Democracy. Kim announced he was leaving politics in 1993, but returned to the political scene only two years later and set about forming another party. In 1996 he was the South Korean opposition leader.
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 recommended by the International Monetary Fund, in the process significantly altering the landscape of South Korean economy. After the economy shrank by 5. 8 percent in 1998, it grew 10. 2 percent in 1999. In effect, his policies were to make for a fairer market by holding the powerful chaebol (conglomerates) accountable, e. g. , greater transparency in accounting practices. State subsidies to large corporations were dramatically cut or dropped.
Kim died on 18 August 2009 at 13:43 KST, at Severance Hospital of Yonsei University in Seoul. The cause of death was given as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.
Kim became a symbol of resistance against political repression in Korea and a spokesman of the Korean people for the struggle for democracy and human rights. He was an internationally renowned figure as a result of the worldwide sympathy and support he was able to garner for his courageous political stand. In 1959 he led the National Coalition for the Protection of Civil Rights in Korea. In 1981 Kim received the Austrian Bruno Kreisky Award for Service in Human Rights. He received an honorary citizenship award from Memphis, Tennessee, and also from Nashville, Tennessee, respectively in 1966 and 1983.
His policy of engagement with North Korea has been termed the Sunshine Policy. He moved to begin détente with the communist government in North Korea, which culminated in a historic summit meeting in 2000 in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. This marked a critical juncture in inter-Korean relations, and the two Koreas have had direct contact with each other since. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts.
(The Korean economy is beset with problems caused by incre...)
(The South Korean opposition leader who spent much of the ...)
(Book by Kim Dae-jung)
Quotations:
"You know, North Korea situation is far worse than East Germany, and South Korea is weaker than West Germany. "
"So for mutual interest, I do want American presence in this region. "
"If America would withdraw from South Korea, there could be a power struggle between such as China and Japan. "
Quotes from others about the person
"Dr Kim Dae-Jung, the one unmistakably great political leader with whom I have had the privilege to talk at length, to whom his country owes far more than it has yet begun to realize, by his singular courage. "
John Dunn, Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy (2005), "Acknowledgements"
Kim was a Catholic and married Lee Hee Ho, former executive secretary of the National Young Women's Christian Association of Korea. They had three sons.
