Authorities said he died of complications from sepsis and heart failure three days after being admitted to the hospital.
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He stood in South Korea’s first free direct presidential election in 1987, but split the opposition vote with fellow activist Kim Dae-Jung, allowing the former general Roh Tae-Woo to take office.
When he was president, from 1993 to 1998, Mr. Kim had his two predecessors indicted on mutiny and treason charges stemming from a coup. He had ended decades of military rule in South Korea and accepted a massive global bailout during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
Five years ago, in response to a South live-fire drill near the countries’ tense sea border, the North bombarded Yeonpyeong island on November 23, 2010, killing four South Koreans – two soldiers and two civilians – and prompting the South to return the fire.
South Korea’s armed forces on Monday conducted live-ammunition exercises for around 40 minutes from 4 p.m. (local time) with its K-9 self-propelled artillery in islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong.
Breaking months of silence for Seoul’s repeated dialogue offer, Pyongyang proposed to hold the talks with Seoul this week in the North’s zone of their truce village in what could be a move to improve inter-Korean relations.
When first elected in his mid-20s, Kim was then the youngest member of the legislative house in 1954.
“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.
Kim was born on December 20, 1927 on Koje Island off the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula.
On Sunday, around three-thousand-200 citizens and rival party figures visited the memorial at the hospital, including former President Lee Myung-bak, former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil and NPAD Chairman Moon Jae-in. He was the opposition leader during the Presidency of Park Chung-hee who seized power in a coup in 1961.
A spokesman for the regime’s southwestern military unit said South Korea is scheming to attack North Korean waters again.
In 1992, Mr. Kim became the head of the ruling party and was elected president, five years after his first unsuccessful presidential bid.
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Kim also sought to enact sweeping economic reforms.
