Kim led South Koreans in a movement against military dictatorships before he rose to the presidency in 1993.
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“The South’s military warmongers should get a grip on their mind…and behave in line with the August agreement”, the North’s Yellow Sea military command said – according to the KCNA – referring to a recent inter-Korea agreement aimed at defusing tension. “He will forever be remembered in the hearts of the people as a leader of convictions”, he said.
Former President Kim Young-sam dies at age 88 on November 22, 2015.
The leaders of rival political parties visited a memorial altar to pay respect to the late leader.
Authorities said he died of complications from sepsis and heart failure three days after being admitted to the hospital. He had entered politics in the 1980s with the help of the former president. At that time, he was a member of the ruling party of the late Syngman Rhee, South Korea’s first president.
“We have created a truly civilian government”. The chief of Seoul National College Hospital, Oh Byung-Hee, stated Kim died there early Sunday.
This saying has become a catchphrase for Koreans yearning for democracy, and Moon recalled the quote on his Facebook account, adding, “Let us once more mull these words”. Kim is to be laid to rest at Seoul National Cemetery in southern Seoul. However, Mr Kim pardoned the two convicted military strongmen – Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo – at the end of his term. “He must be in a better place now, as a devout Christian”, he said.
President Kim led the country during tumultuous times, including the 1994 nuclear crisis.
He balked at the Clinton administration’s concept of putting a North Korean nuclear complicated in 1994. It took six years before the leaders of the two Koreas – South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il – held a summit in Pyongyang.
Kim saw the country’s economy take a nose-dive in the final months of his presidency, weighed down by massive foreign debt and culminating in the biggest bailout of the Asian financial crisis by the global Monetary Fund.
As a fighter for democracy, Kim’s life was tumultuous.
The funeral ceremony is to be held Thursday at the National Assembly where an official government altar for Kim is to be set up.
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Kim is survived by his wife and two sons and three daughters. She was informed of Kim’s passing several hours later and reportedly broke down in tears.
