Kim Dae Jung

Kim Dae-jung (Korean: Kim Dae-jung/Kim Dae-jung, Romanized: Kim Dae-Jung (January 6, 1924 - August 18, 2009), also known as Houguang (halo), also known as Honeysuckle (honeysuckle), Bengwan Kimhae Kim, a South Korean politician and the 15th president of the Republic of Korea. He was imprisoned many times for democratic struggles during the dictatorial regimes of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. He was called the "Mandela of Asia" and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Kim Dae-jung was originally an entrepreneur. After the Korean War, he gave up business and entered politics and became the leader of the opposition democratic movement. During the military dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, he escaped death five times, lived in prison for six years and spent ten years under house arrest and exile. He was repeatedly imprisoned, exiled, murdered in car accidents, and sentenced to death by the military and political authorities. In his more than 40 years of political campaigning and democratic struggle, he suffered repeated defeats and was finally elected as the fifteenth president of South Korea in 1997. On February 25, 1998, Kim Dae-jung was officially sworn in and assumed office at the Blue House, successfully achieving the first peaceful transition of power between the ruling and opposition parties in modern Korean history. During his administration, Kim Dae-jung worked hard to revive the South Korean economy that was hit by the Asian financial crisis, reformed South Korea's economic system, and enabled South Korea to successfully complete the privatization of enterprises and the transformation of industrial structure. On the issue of North Korea, he adopted the "sunshine policy" and successfully held the first North-South bilateral talks in 2000, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. In addition, he effectively maintained peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula by coordinating the development of relations with the United States, Japan, the People's Republic of China and Russia, and enhanced South Korea's international status and prestige. Kim Dae-jung was baptized as a Catholic by Archbishop Lu Keenan of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul in 1956, and his holy name was Thomas More. His surrogate father was Jang Myon, the vice president of South Korea at the time. Kim Dae-jung's motto is "Respect Heaven and Love People", which is also the philosophy he pursued throughout his life.