Former President Kim Passes Away at 85

Former President Kim Dae-jung Former President Kim Dae-jung died at 1:42 p.m. Tuesday, Severance Hospital in Seoul said. Kim, 85, has been under intensive care at the hospital since mid-July due to pneumonia. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at reconciliation with North Korea, including a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000. Born in Sinan, South Jeolla Province, in 1924, Kim served as president between 1998 and 2003. The fighter for democracy endured abduction, torture and multiple arrests while engaging in the pro-democracy movement along with his lifetime rival and friend Kim Young-sam. Before entering politics, Kim worked for a Japanese-owned shipping company and later opened his own shipping business, which turned out to be quite successful. But as Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president, began to steer the country towards authoritarianism, Kim developed a resolve to fight what he saw as an increasingly corrupt government After two failed attempts, Kim was elected to the National Assembly in 1961, but his election was invalidated three days later when Gen. Park Chung-hee seized control of the government through a military coup and dissolved the parliament. Kim was re-elected in 1963, and his early challenges against Park's iron-fisted rule put him on track for a turbulent life ahead. In August 1973, South Korean agents kidnapped him from a Tokyo hotel in a suspected plot to kill him. He was spared after a behind-the-scenes intervention by officials from the United States and Japan. He returned to South Korea a week later, but was immediately put under house arrest. Kim was freed after Park was killed by his intelligence chief in 1979, but the promise of democracy continued to be elusive. In 1980, Kim and other leading opposition figures were arrested on charges of treason by Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who imposed martial law as he moved to take over the presidency. Shortly afterward, tens of thousands of people gathered in the city of Gwangju, not far from Kim's hometown, demanding that Chun rescind martial law and release the opposition leaders. The military crushed the rally in a bloody massacre that left at least 200 dead, by official counts. Kim was sentenced to death after being accused of fomenting the Gwangju uprising, but was later pardoned. During his more than 40 years in politics, Kim survived several assassination attempts, one of which left him with a permanent limp. Political analysts say it was just short of a miracle that Kim won the 1997 presidential election. His inauguration marked South Korea's first power transfer between rival parties. Two years after taking office, he met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, the first such summit in Korean history. He was awarded the Nobel Prize the same year in recognition of his lifelong fight for democracy and efforts to thaw icy inter-Korean relations with his "sunshine" policy of engaging the North.