Life

Kim Dae-jung was born in January 1924 at Hugwang-ri in Hauido, a small island in Sinan-gun, Jeollanamdo Province, Korea. His nom de plume ‘Hugwang’ was from the name of his home village.

Kim Dae-jung’s interest and critical minds in politics grew out of his anti-Japanese sentiment from early on.

His parents were peasants farming for the Japanese landlords. His father, the chief of the village, often fought against the Japanese residents on behalf of the community, and led peasants' strikes in resistance of the increasing exploitations.

After graduating from the Mokpo Commercial High School, he got a job at a Japanese merchant shipping company in order to avoid the forced conscription of the imperialist Japan. When the Japanese owner left after the independence of Korea, Kim became the manager of the company assets, and the president of the company in November of the same year. He was quick with numbers and had considerable business acumen. He continued his successful career by serving as the president of a coop for local shipping operators and the president of Daeyang Shipbuilding Company. Later he took over a newspaper company The Mokpo Daily and made his name as the editor-in-chief.

But his career was stopped there due to the Korean War and the Busan Political Crisis in 1952 and twisted into a bumpy road of a politician. Kim Dae-jung was kept prisoner by the North Korean soldiers for being a man of property when they seized Mokpo, but managed to escape, surviving an execution. Watching the Korean people killing each other in the war due to the ideological confrontation, he developed a belief in reconciliation and unification. President Syngman Rhee fell from grace for many faults and mistakes during the war, and he resorted to political manipulation to be re-elected President. Under the banner of rounding up communists and guerrillas, Rhee declared an emergency martial law over Busan and arrested and detained the lawmakers of the opposition parties. Kim Dae-jung decided to stand against the pro-Japanese, incompetent, and corrupt Rhee regime.

His political journey was never smooth. After two failed attempts, he was elected to the National Assembly in the by-election in 1961. But at day 3 after his election, the National Assembly was disbanded by the May 16 military coup d'état. Kim Dae-jung was stripped of his title, never having set foot on the National Assembly.

He earned reputation as a politician after elected to the National Assembly, representing Mokpo in the 6th general election in 1963. His activities as the spokesman of the Mingjung Party in 1965, the Chair of Policy Committee of the Minjung Party in 1966, and the spokesman of the Shinmin Party (the unified opposition party) in 1967 earned him reputation for his eloquence. He also gained a national fame thanks to his marathon filibuster, which lasted for 5 hours 19 minutes to block a motion for the arrest of his colleague lawmaker. It was a Guinness record as the longest National Assembly speech in Korea.

He grew to be the most fearful opponent for the Park Chung-hee regime, which was after the long-lasting power. Running for the 7th Presidential Election in 1971 as the candidate from the opposing Shinmin Party, he confronted Park Chung-hee face to face. More than one million voters gathered in a campaign rally at the Jangchungdan Park held against Park's bid for the three-term through the constitutional revision. Kim Dae-jung delivered a speech, which has been captured as one of the iconic speeches of a 'young Kim Dae-jung.' But his bid for Presidency failed with 46% in approval, a thin difference of 980,000 votes.

Re-elected President Park Chung-hee began suppressing his absolute political opponent Kim Dae-jung. The deadly political persecution began with Yushin of October and was carried over to the new military regime after the Park's assassination on October 26, 1979. The period of 1971 to 1987 was the darkest time for Kim Dae-jung. He was faced with multiple near-death incidents, put in 55 house arrests, jailed for 6 years, and went into exile.

In August 1973, Kim Dae-jung was kidnapped by KCIA of the Park Chung-hee regime and was almost drowned in the sea with his limbs literally shackled. He was miraculously brought home thanks to the warnings of his outspoken friends and colleagues from abroad. After returning home, he was house-arrested and had to stop all his activities. Still undaunted, he braved to condemn dictator Park's Yushin regime through 'March 1 Declaration on Democracy and National Salvation' in 1976, which led him to a 5-year prison sentence. He was released after serving one year in prison, but kept home under the house arrest.

The Chun Doo-whan regime, which staged a coup in May 1980, sentenced Kim Dae-jung to death on charges of sedition and conspiracy. Kim was saved thanks to his supporters, but went into exile after having been released. He continued his fight for democratization of Korea even during the exile in the U.S. After the stormy home-coming in 1985, he still had to go through house arrests on and off.

The June Struggle in 1987 led the nation to the first free Presidential Election. Kim Dae-jung was exempted from imprisonment and reinstated. Even after two failed attempts, he never gave up and continued his efforts to be a competent president. After four unsuccessful bids, he was elected the President in 1997 and inaugurated as the 15th President of South Korea on February 25, 1998.

President Kim Dae-jung was diligent in making achievements. He rescued the nation from the serious economic crisis in 1998. He provided security to the nation with the National Basic Living Security Act. His four national insurances scheme provided the social safety net for the people. The Ministry of Gender Equality and the National Human Rights Commission were installed to protect and speak for women and the underprivileged. The high-speed communication network was constructed nationwide, a foundation to make Korea into the IT power house. The compulsory education was provided up to the three years of a middle school. He watched the Football Team Korea make it to the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in the Korean football history.

He faithfully implemented the Sunshine Policy towards the North unlike his predecessors, making undisputable contributions to peace on the Korean Peninsula. In 55 years after the national division, he managed to hold the first-ever Inter-Korean summit in June 2000 and announced the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. This led him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2000 for the first time in Korea. After leaving the office in 2003, Kim Dae-jung remained active for peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.