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Kim Dae Jung: Kim Dae-Jungs
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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."
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Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed a landmark agreement on June 14, 2000, to improve cooperation between the two countries and to work towards reunification of the Korean peninsula. The agreement was signed in the North Korean capital of P'yóngyang during the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea since the Korean peninsula was divided in 1945. The five-point declaration called for both sides to work independently towards reunification, initiate governmental contacts to ease border tensions, increase economic cooperation, and begin a range of exchanges. From August 2000, North Korea agreed to permit reunions of families divided between the two countries since the Korean War. Kim Dae-jung pledged to resolve quickly the fate of dozens of North Korean political prisoners held in South Korea. The agreement did not... address pressing security issues facing both countries.
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Kim Dae-jung was the president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts to work for peace between North and South Korea. From the beginning, his political career was quite turbulent. He got into politics because he was a strong believer in democracy and his country's government in the late 1950s was becoming less and less democratic. Three days after he was elected to the parliament in 1961, there was a military coup and the parliament was dissolved. Over the next 35 years he struggled as an opposition leader with three failed election bids for president. He survived repeated arrests, a kidnapping, beatings, at least 5 attempts on his life, exile and a death sentence before finally being elected as president at the age of 72.
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Kim Dae-jung was born a second son to a farmer living in a small village on the island of Haui off the South Coast of Korea on January 6, 1924. He loved his home village (so much that he was to use its name, Hugwang, as his pseudonym for life). The crashing of the waves, the sea horizon, the water birds, the wind and the warm sunshine there gave him dreams, courage and artistic inspiration. After finishing fourth grade, he moved to Mokpo City on the mainland and attended Bukgyo Elementary School. He graduated from Mokpo Commercial School (currently Jeolla-Jeil High School) in 1943.
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Following Park Chung Hee’s assassination Kim Dae-jung had his civil and political rights restored in 1979. However, after a period of political unrest in which another group of soldiers led by Chun Doo-hwan seized power, he was once again jailed in 1980. He was first sentenced to death, then to life imprisonment, and then to 20 years in prison, following the intervention of the US. He was released and allowed to go in exile in the US in 1982. He stayed as a visiting fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
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Kim Dae-jung's early life is shrouded in mystery. According to his official biography, he was born on December 3, 1925 and was raised in a poor and remote island, 30 miles off the southwest Korean coast. In an unpusblished biography, written in 1993 by a relative, he is quoted as saying that he was actually born on January 6, 1924, and that his parents later falsified his birth date so he could avoid Japanese military service during World War II. Kim is a brilliant student and his family moves to the mainland city of Mokpo so he can go to high school, which in those days is a rarity. After graduation, he goes to work for a Japanese shipping company. When Japan surrenders Korea, as the best-educated Korean of the staff, his fellow workers let him take charge of the company.
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