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| -Obits- |
| Kim Dae-jung Dead at 85 |
| 2009-08-19 |
| Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung died of multiple organ failure caused by complications from pneumonia at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital in Sinchon, Seoul on Tuesday. He was 85. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won, a close associate to Kim, said KimÂ’s wife Lee Hee-ho, his three sons Hong-il, Hong-up and Hong-gul, his daughters-in-law, relatives and close associates were at his deathbed. President Lee Myung-bak paid tribute to Kim, saying, "We lost a great political leader. I pray that former president Kim's lifelong wishes will lead to inter-Korean reconciliation and national unity." Kim's death marks a watershed in Korea's political landscape, where, as a long-time dissident and nemesis of the authoritarian President Park Chung-hee, he represented the pole of democratization against the conservative tendency that emphasized industrialization. He was also an anchor in the binary power structure that pitted his stronghold in the Jeolla Provinces against the conservative power base in the Gyeongsang Provinces. Kim Dae-jung shaped what is known as the "era of the three Kims" together with former President Kim Young-sam and former prime minister Kim Jong-pil. Only three former Presidents, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam, are still alive. |
| Posted by:Steve White |