Dissident Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, President Kim Dae-jung

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Before being elected the 15th President of the Republic 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 six 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 South Korea in 1971. As the Korean government declared the Yusin Constitution 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 five years of imprisonment, he was released in December 1978 and put under house-arrest again.

With the collapse of the Yusin System in 1979 upon the death of Park Chung-hee, he was granted amnesty. But the new military government led by Chun Doo-hwan 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 the Republic 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 North and South 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.

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