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Encyclopedia > Kim Dae Jung
Kim Dae Jung
Kim Dae Jung

Kim Dae-Jung during a visit of George W. Bush in Seoul, February 20, 2002. Image File history File links Kim_Dae-Jung_2002. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Seoul (Sŏul[1] 서울)   is the capital and largest city of South Korea (Republic of Korea). ... February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...


In office
1998 – 2003
Preceded by Kim Young-sam
Succeeded by Roh Moo-hyun

Born January 6, 1924
Haui-do, South Jeolla
Kim Dae Jung
Hangul: 김대중
Hanja: 金大中
Revised Romanization: Gim Dae-jung
McCune-Reischauer: Kim Taejung

Kim Dae-jung (born January 6, 1926) is a former South Korean president and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the first winner of a Nobel to hail from Korea [1]. A Roman Catholic since 1957, he has been called the "Nelson Mandela" of Asia [2] and was a symbol of democratic opposition to the dictatorial government. Kim Dae Jung was the President (succeeding Kim Young-sam) from 1998 to 2003. He was born in Haui-do, South Jeolla Province, an island off the South Korean Coast. The President is head of state of South Korea. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kim Young-sam (born December 20, 1927 in Geoje, South Gyeongsang) was the President of the Republic of Korea from February 25, 1993 to February 25, 1998. ... Roh Moo-hyun (born September 1, 1946 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang) has been the President of South Korea since February 25, 2003. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Haui-do is an island off the South Korean coast in the Yellow Sea, part of Sinan County in Jeollanam-do province. ... South Jeolla is a province in the southwest of South Korea. ... For other uses, see Hangul (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Motto: Broadly bring benefit to humanity [citation needed] Anthem: Aegukga Capital (and largest city) Seoul Korean Government Republic  - President Roh Moo-hyun  - Prime Minister Han Myung-sook Establishment    - Gojoseon October 3, 2333 BCEa   - Republic declared March 1, 1919 (de jure)   - Liberation August 15, 1945   - First Republic August 15, 1948   - [Nations... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (IPA ) (born July 18, 1918) was the first President of South Africa to be elected in fully-representative democratic elections. ... The President is head of state of South Korea. ... Kim Young-sam (born December 20, 1927 in Geoje, South Gyeongsang) was the President of the Republic of Korea from February 25, 1993 to February 25, 1998. ... Haui-do is an island off the South Korean coast in the Yellow Sea, part of Sinan County in Jeollanam-do province. ... South Jeolla is a province in the southwest of South Korea. ...

 elections in 1963 and 1967 and went on to become an eminent opposition leader, which culminated in running a presidential campaign in 1971. He managed a close race against Park despite several handicaps imposed by the ruling regime. He proved to be a supremely talented orator who could command unwavering loyalty among his supporters. His staunchest support came from the Cholla region, where he reliably garnered upwards of 95% of the popular vote, a record that has remained unsurpassed in South Korean politics. 

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. [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 and sentenced for five years in prison, which was reduced to house arrest in 1978. Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan. ... The Agency for National Security Planning (also referred to as ANSP or KCIA) is the chief intelligence bureau of the Republic of Korea. ... The Yusin Constitution, also spelled Yushin, was the official constitution of the South Korean Fourth Republic, 1972-1979. ... Seoul (Sŏul[1] 서울)   is the capital and largest city of South Korea (Republic of Korea). ...


Kim was reinstated in 1979 after Park Chung-hee was assassinated. However in 1980, Kim was arrested and 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. Kim stayed in Harvard University as visiting fellow to the Center for International Affairs, until he chose to return to his homeland in 1985. During his period abroad, he authored a number of opinion pieces in leading Western newspapers that were sharply critical of his government. Chun Doo-hwan (Korean hangul: 전두환; hanja: 全斗煥; revised: Jeon Duhwan; McCune-Reischauer: Chŏn Tuhwan; born 18 January 1931) was a Korean military officer and the President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. ... The Gwangju Massacre refers to the atrocities comitted in the city of Gwangju, South Korea from May 18 to May 27, 1980. ... This article is about Gwangju Metropolitan City in South Korea. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

Contents

Road to the Presidency

Kim was again put under house arrest upon his return to Seoul, but resumed his role as one of the principal leaders of the political opposition. When Chun Doo-hwan succumbed to the popular demand in 1987 and allowed the first democratic presidential election after the 1961 coup, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam both ran. The result was a split the opposition vote, with Kim Young-sam receiving 28% and Kim Dae-jung 27% of the vote. The ex-general Roh Tae-woo—Chun Doo-hwan's hand-picked successor—won with 36.5% of the popular vote. Kim Young-sam (born December 20, 1927 in Geoje, South Gyeongsang) was the President of the Republic of Korea from February 25, 1993 to February 25, 1998. ... Roh Tae-woo (born December 4, 1942 in Daegu, South Korea), a Korean general and politician. ...


He made yet another failed bid for the presidency in 1992, this time solely against Kim Young-sam, who won as a candidate for the ruling party. Many thought his political career was effectively over when Kim took a hiatus form politics and departed for the United Kingdom to take a position at Clare Hall, Cambridge University as a visiting scholar. However, in 1995 he announced his return to politics and began his fourth quest for the presidency. The situation became favorable for him when the public revolted against the incumbent government in the wake of the nation's economic collapse in the Asian financial crisis just weeks before the presidential election. Allied with Kim Jong-pil, he defeated Lee Hoi-chang, Kim Young-sam's successor, in the election held on December 18, 1997, and was inaugurated as the fifteenth President of South Korea on February 25, 1998. The election was marred with controversy, as two candidates from the ruling party split the conservative vote (38.7% and 19.2% respectively), enabling Kim to win with a 40.3% of the popular vote[[2]]. Kim's chief opponent, Lee Hoi Chang, was a former Supreme Court Justice and had graduated at the top of his class from Seoul National University College of Law. Lee was widely viewed as elitist and his candidacy was further damaged by charges that his sons dodged mandatory military service. Kim's education in contrast was limited to vocational high school, and many Koreans sympathized with the many trials and tribulations that Kim had endured previously. Full name Clare Hall Motto - Named after Clare College Previous names - Established 1966, 1984 Sister College St Cross College President Prof. ... The University of Cambridge, located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The Asian financial crisis was a financial crisis that started in July 1997 in Thailand and affected currencies, stock markets, and other asset prices in several Asian countries, many considered East Asian Tigers. ... Kim Jong-pil is a South Korean politician and founder of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (the KCIA, now the National Intelligence Service), who served as Prime Minister twice, from 1971-1975 and from 1998-2000. ... Lee Hoi-chang (born June 2, 1935) is a South Korean politician. ... In the Gregorian Calendar, December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years), at which point there will be 13 days remaining to the end of the year. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...


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. Kim's administration was in turn overrepresented in individuals from the Jeolla province, leading to charges of reverse discrimination. Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was the president of Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. ... Chun Doo-hwan (Korean hangul: 전두환; hanja: 全斗煥; revised: Jeon Duhwan; McCune-Reischauer: Chŏn Tuhwan; born 18 January 1931) was a Korean military officer and the President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. ... Roh Tae-woo (born December 4, 1942 in Daegu, South Korea), a Korean general and politician. ... Gyeongsang (Gyeongsang-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... Jeolla (Jeolla-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ...


Kim's inauguration marked the first time in Korean history that a ruling party peacefully transferred power to a democratically elected opposition victor. This is because the leftists have never been in power in Korea until Kim's administration. Kim's successor, Roh Moo Hyun, is also a leftist and is the current President.


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 recommended by the International Monetary Fund, in the process significantly altering the landscape of South Korean economy. 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. His administration is credited by some with overseeing a recovery from the Asian Financial Crisis although many believe that a recovery was inevitable and he actually hampered a full recovery (See below). Currency 1 South Korean Won (W) = 100 Jeon(Chŏn) (theoretical) Fiscal year Calendar year Trade organisations APEC, WTO and OECD Statistics [1] GDP ranking 12th by volume (at PPP) (2005); GDP $1. ...


His policy of engagement with North Korea has been termed the Sunshine Policy. In 2000, he participated in the first North-South presidential summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, which later led to his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The North Korean leader, however, never kept his promise to reciprocate by visiting South Korea. North Korea has not reduced the heavy presence of troops in the DMZ and has continued to work on developing nuclear weapons, which it tested in October 2006. During Kim's administration, North Korean naval vessels intruded into South Korean waters and fired upon a South Korean naval vessel without warning, killing and wounding South Korean sailors. Kim was criticized for not demanding an apology from North Korea and going to Japan to attend a World Cup soccer match in the wake of the gunbattle between the two Koreas. The Sunshine Policy is the current South Korean doctrine towards North Korea. ... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il [1]) (Korean: 김정일) (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, a position he has held since 1994. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ...


Kim completed his 5-year presidential term in 2003. A presidential library at Yonsei University was built to preserve Kim's legacy, and there is a convention center named after him in the city of Gwangju, the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center. Yonsei University is a private university in Seoul, South Korea. ...


Post-Presidency

Kim has actively called for restraint against the North Koreans for detonating a nuclear weapon and defended the continued Sunshine policy towards Pyongyang to defuse the crisis. North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia... Pyongyang is the capital city of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at (39. ...


Criticisms of Kim Dae Jung

Kim is by no means universally admired. He enjoys an extremely high level of support in the Southwestern Jeolla province, where he routinely received close to 100% of the popular vote in elections. In the rest of the country, he is often a target of scathing criticism by the conservatives, who constitute the majority of the population. Kim is known for his superb oratorial skills and is often characterized as a demagogue and a populist rabblerouser. To rally support, he has often resorted to inflammatory rhetoric pitting the Jeolla province against the wealthier Gyeonsang Province and has also been accused of instigating the Kwangju armed uprising, which led to a bloody suppression by the military. He was tried and found guilty of sedition charges for the Kwangju uprising, although he was pardoned later. On at least three occasions over two decades, he publicly renounced any further interest in politics, only to come back and run for Presidency once more. He was finally elected President on his fourth attempt.


While Kim credits himself with recovery from the Asian financial crisis, others point out that the recovery was only partial and was most likely inevitable given the underlying strength of the Korean economy. It has been argued by prominent economists, such as Martin Felstein of Harvard University, that the crisis was largely financial in nature, not arising from a fundamental defect in the growth-oriented market economy propelled by large corporations, which resembled the Japanese economy from two decades earlier. By blaming and suppressing the large corporations, Kim Dae Jung's administration may have sapped the country of potential for sustained high-rate growth. Numerous corporations which had enjoyed robust growth went under during Kim's Presidency, particularly the ones whose owners publicly disagreed with Kim's business policies. Newpapers critical of the administration, including the Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, and Korean Central Daily, were targeted for tax audits and the owners jailed for tax evasion.


His Sunshine Policy is today considered by many to be a glaring failure, having only provided sufficient cash for North Korea to maintain its totalitarian regime and develop nuclear weapons. There has been little factual evidence that the North Korean regime has made any progress in human rights, about which Kim has been notoriously silent. Indeed, Kim may have committed illegal acts while funneling large sums of state money to North Korea without the knowledge of the National Assembly or the Korean public. While many have called for a special prosecutor to investigate the charges, no extensive formal investigation has taken place with the leftists remaining in power in the executive and legislative branches of the government. This may change in the subsequent administration as the level of support for both the current President and the ruling party have dropped well below 15% while the conservatives have enjoyed an upsurge of support to nearly 50%.


See also

This article is part of or related to the Liberalism series Categories: Politics stubs | Liberal related stubs | Liberalism by country | South Korean political parties ... 1973 Kidnapping of Kim Dae-Jung refers to the incident that occured on 8 August 1973 in Tokyo, Japan, which involved the kidnapping of Kim Dae-Jung, a South Korean politician and later President of South Korea. ... There were widespread allegations of corruption during the North-South presidential summit between the two Koreas. ...

External links

  • Official Nobel page for Kim
  • Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library
  • BBC article on his legacy
Preceded by:
Kim Young-sam
President of South Korea
1998-2003
Succeeded by:
Roh Moo-hyun


Kim Young-sam (born December 20, 1927 in Geoje, South Gyeongsang) was the President of the Republic of Korea from February 25, 1993 to February 25, 1998. ... The President is head of state of South Korea. ... Roh Moo-hyun (born September 1, 1946 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang) has been the President of South Korea since February 25, 2003. ...

Presidents of South Korea Flag of South Korea

Provisional Government: Rhee Syng-man* | Park Eunsik* | Yi Sang-ryong* | Hong Jin* | Yi Dong-nyung* | Kim Gu* The President is head of state of South Korea. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Korea. ... Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee or Lee Seungman (March 26, 1875 – July 19, 1965) was the first president of South Korea. ... Park Eunsik (September 30, 1859 - November 1, 1925) was the second President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai during part of 1925. ... Yi Sang-ryong was a Korean Liberation activist, serving as the 3rd president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1925 to 1926. ... According to family jokbo of Pungsan Hong clan, Hong Jin was born to a Yangban family. ... Yi Dong-nyung was a Korean Liberation Activist. ... Kim Gu (August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), the sixth and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a Korean patriot who had struggled against the Japanese occupation of Korea that lasted from 1910 to 1945. ...

Rhee Syng-man | Yun Bo-seon | Park Chung-hee | Choe Kyu-hah | Chun Doo-hwan | Roh Tae-woo | Kim Young-sam | Kim Dae-jung | Roh Moo-hyun Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee or Lee Seungman (March 26, 1875 – July 19, 1965) was the first president of South Korea. ... Yun Bo-seon (August 26, 1897 - July 18, 1990) was the President of South Korea during 1960 - 1962. ... Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was the president of Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. ... Choi Kyu-hah (July 16, 1919 – October 22, 2006) (also spelled Choi Kyu-ha) was the President of South Korea between 1979 and 1980. ... Chun Doo-hwan (Korean hangul: 전두환; hanja: 全斗煥; revised: Jeon Duhwan; McCune-Reischauer: Chŏn Tuhwan; born 18 January 1931) was a Korean military officer and the President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. ... Roh Tae-woo (born December 4, 1942 in Daegu, South Korea), a Korean general and politician. ... Kim Young-sam (born December 20, 1927 in Geoje, South Gyeongsang) was the President of the Republic of Korea from February 25, 1993 to February 25, 1998. ... Roh Moo-hyun (born September 1, 1946 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang) has been the President of South Korea since February 25, 2003. ...



 

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