Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung died on Tuesday at the age of 85. An official at a Seoul hospital treating Kim for pneumonia confirmed the death. Local media reports said he died of heart failure. The exact date of Kim's birth is uncertain, but several biographies have it listed as January 6, 1924.
Internationally, Kim is best known for his historic handshake and embrace with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in June 2000, at the first summit meeting of the leaders of the two countries on the divided peninsula. Kim’s "Sunshine Policy" at the meeting won him the Nobel Prize -- his idea of prodding the North forward with the promise of incentives and reducing the strain of eventual unification through economic integration.
At home, Kim's life-long struggling against South Korea's early repressive authoritarian leaders defined him and made his name a household word and inspiration for generations. He was elected South Korea's president in December 1997, a victory that marked the first time in South Korea that power had shifted from a ruling party president to a president from the opposition. He shuffled when he walked due to injuries suffered to his legs in an assassination attempt in the 1970s when a truck rammed his car off a road.
Internationally, Kim is best known for his historic handshake and embrace with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in June 2000, at the first summit meeting of the leaders of the two countries on the divided peninsula. Kim’s "Sunshine Policy" at the meeting won him the Nobel Prize -- his idea of prodding the North forward with the promise of incentives and reducing the strain of eventual unification through economic integration.
At home, Kim's life-long struggling against South Korea's early repressive authoritarian leaders defined him and made his name a household word and inspiration for generations. He was elected South Korea's president in December 1997, a victory that marked the first time in South Korea that power had shifted from a ruling party president to a president from the opposition. He shuffled when he walked due to injuries suffered to his legs in an assassination attempt in the 1970s when a truck rammed his car off a road.
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