Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on August 18, 2009
Former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, who died on August 18 while being treated for pneumonia, epitomized three key values of the country in the past four decades: democracy, economic justice and reunification of the Korean peninsula. Winner of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, Kim is best remembered outside of Korea for his “Sunshine” engagement policy aimed at coaxing North Korea into joining the international community. But at home, it was his life-long fight against the military dictatorship and for democracy that elected him as the first president to be drawn from an opposition party in 1997.
Kim’s contribution to the economy isn’t small either. After taking over the country in the depth of the Asian financial crisis, he cleaned up corrupt practices of reckless overexpansion by the chaebol, family-controlled conglomerates, with easy money funneled by state-controlled banks. He also flung open the economy to foreign investors, while introducing accounting transparency and the basis of a welfare system for the poor.
Certainly he deserves respect for not giving up his conviction for freedom and reconciliation despite many ordeals. He survived a death sentence, torture and several assassination attempts, two exiles and a countless number of house arrests. And he never stopped speaking up against political oppression.
Kim, who died at 85, spent last years of his life in disappointment. Despite South Korean aid and goodwill gestures, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il never gave up his nuclear ambition. After he ended his term in 2003, Kim Dae Jung saw his two sons jailed for corruption. A parliamentary probe revealed that his government paid $500 million to North Korea shortly before his 2000 summit with Kim Jong Il. With the ailing North Korean leader bent on preparing for a succession of power to his son at all costs, it appears the reconciliation of the peninsula Kim Dae Jung hoped for won’t come true any time soon.