Draft Kim Dae-jung

Title	Kim Dae-jung Endured Hardships

1차 원고

Hardship-endured Kim Dae-jung

Before being elected the 15th President of Korea (1998~2003), Kim Dae-jung (1924 ~2009) had undergone all sorts of hardships for nearly 30 years. He was given a death sentence while being imprisoned for 6 years, and he lived in exile for nearly 10 years. He was kidnapped and put under house arrest.

He emerged as a political leader when he first ran for president of Korea in 1971. As the Korean government declared the Revitalizing Reforms in October 1972, he conducted anti-Revitalizing Reform activities in Japan. In August 1973, he was kidnapped by Korean agents at a hotel in Tokyo and was transported to Seoul under escort.

Under house arrest, he began political activities in 1974. In 1976, he was arrested as he allegedly infringed regulations by announcing the ‘declaration for democracy and nation-saving on March 1’. After being sentenced to 5-year imprisonment, he was released in December 1978 and put under house arrest again.

With collapse of the Revitalizing Reform system 1979, he was granted amnesty. But the new military government arrested him and the military court decided death sentence on him for alleged rebellion conspiracy. And he was commuted punishment and then permitted in 1982 to defect to the United States.

After returning to Korea from the United States, he resumed political activities in 1987 and ran for president in 1987 and 1992 with futile. Having announced retirement from politics, he went to the United Kingdom in 1993, but resumed political activities again after returning to Korea and founded a new political party.

Having been elected the 15th President of Korea on December 18, 1997, he took drastic measures of reforming economic structure to get over the economic crisis. And he actively moved to improve relations between South and North Korea by adopting the engagement policy towards North Korea, dubbed ‘Sunshine Policy’. In March 2000, he announced the ‘Berlin Declaration’ calling for permanent peace on the Korean peninsula. In June of the same year, he visited North Korea to have the first South-North summit meeting and announced a joint statement on June 15, 2000. The statement defined to seek ways of unifying Korea by expanding collaboration and exchanges in various areas based on reconciliation and mutual trust. In recognition of his meritorious contribution to opening a new chapter of peace on the Korean peninsula, he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.

감수본

Kim Dae-jung Endured Hardships

Before being elected the 15th President of Korea (1998-2003), Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) had undergone all sorts of hardships for nearly 30 years. He was given a death sentence while being imprisoned for 6 years, was kidnapped and put under house-arrest, and he lived in exile for nearly 10 years. He emerged as a political leader when he first ran for president of Korea in 1971. As the Korean government declared the Revitalizing Reforms in October 1972, he conducted activities against that in Japan. Consequently, he was kidnapped by Korean agents at a hotel in Tokyo and was transported to Seoul under escort in August 1973.

Under house-arrest, he resumed political activities in 1974. In 1976, he was arrested as he allegedly infringed regulations by announcing his ‘declaration for democracy and nation-saving on March 1’. After being sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, he was released in December 1978 and put under house-arrest again.

With the collapse of the Revitalizing Reforms system 1979, he was granted amnesty. But the new military government arrested him and the military court sentenced him to death for alleged rebellion conspiracy; however, his punishment was commuted and he was permitted to go into exile to the United States in 1982.

After returning to Korea from the United States in 1987, he resumed political activities and ran for president in 1987 and 1992, unsuccessfully. Having announced retirement from politics, he went to the United Kingdom in 1993, but resumed political activities again after returning to Korea and founded a new political party.

Having been elected the 15th President of Korea on December 18, 1997, he took drastic measures of reforming the economic structure to overcome the Asian Financial Crisis. He also actively moved to improve relations between South and North Korea by adopting an engagement policy towards North Korea, dubbed the ‘Sunshine Policy’. In March 2000, he announced the ‘Berlin Declaration’ calling for permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. In June of the same year, he visited North Korea to have the first South-North Summit meeting, resulting in a joint statement on ways of unifying Korea by expanding collaboration and exchanges in various areas based on reconciliation and mutual trust on June 15, 2000. In recognition of his meritorious contribution to opening a new chapter of peace on the Korean peninsula, he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.