The 15th President of South Korea Kim Dae-jung passed away at the age of 85 at 1:42 p.m. on August 18.
Former President Kim, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia at Severance Hospital in Seoul since July 13, was transferred from an intensive care unit to a general ward on July 22. However, Kim, who was on an artificial respirator due to a pulmonary embolism, was moved back to the intensive care unit a day later, and eventually failed to recover from his deteriorated health condition.
Kim was born in Sinan, South Jeolla Province, in 1925 as the second son among four sons and two daughters of father Kim Won-sik and mother Jang Soo-keum. He graduated from Bukkyo Elementary School and Mokpo Commercial High School in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province. He was the owner of a local newspaper and has served as the 7th, 8th, 13th, and 14th congressman after being elected as the 6th congressman of the National Assembly in Mokpo in 1963.
Kim won the presidency in 1997, beating then Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang.
Kim has devoted his entire life for democracy, human rights improvement, and a reunification on the Korean peninsula. He is evaluated to have hugely contributed in ending a dictatorship, settling democracy, and bringing peace to the Korean peninsula.
During his presidential terms, he has tided over the Asian financial crisis, regarded as the nation’s biggest crisis since the 1950-53 Korean War, and materialized a world-class information society. He has opened an era of inter-Korean conciliation and cooperation through the landmark summit with a North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. He later became South Korea’s first winner of the Noble Peace Prize.
[Eun-jung Kim / JYJ]
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