North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed on August 25 to hold a high level talks under a landmark peace deal that ended a military standoff in Korean peninsula. He said Kim is believed to have suffered from a severe blood infection and acute heart failure.
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Kim led the Korean people through “one of the most challenging periods of the transition to democracy and set a precedent for a peaceful transfer of power in South Korean leadership that endures to this day”, he said.
A United States air strike “will immediately prompt North Korea to open fire against major South Korean cities from the border”, Mr Kim said his memoir, describing his dawn telephone conversation with then-US president Bill Clinton in June 1994.
The bombardment of Yeonpyeong island off the west coast on November 23, 2010 killed four South Koreans including two civilians and sparked brief fears of full-scale war. But those efforts faltered and his government sought bailout protection from the global Monetary Fund at the height of the 1997 Asian economic crisis.
The crisis eased when former president Jimmy Carter met with the North’s leader and founder Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, which led to an accord aimed at freezing North Korea’s plutonium-based nuclear programmes.
In 1954, Kim was elected as the youngest member of the National Assembly. He was punished by the country’s ruling regime at the time, and was expelled from the National Assembly for “anti-government activities” in 1979, according to the Korea Herald. But two years later, Kim later pardoned Chun and Roh Tae-woo.
Kim parted ways with his opposition ally Kim Dae-jung when he joined forces with Roh in 1992 as a stepping stone to his presidency.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry too said it will follow the footsteps of the late former president while expressing condolences to the bereaved family of Kim.
Kim’s son Hyon-chul was at his side during his final moments, but his wife Son Myung-soon was unable to be there.
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Once in the governing party, whose top hierarchy included many former generals, Mr. Kim and his followers, vastly outnumbered by rival factions but all seasoned veterans in party politics, quickly expanded their ranks and dominated the party.
