Korea (under Japanese rule)
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Kim Dae-jung
Sinan, South Jeolla Province, Korea (under Japanese rule)
Archival Overview
President of South Korea, democracy activist, and 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate known as the 'Nelson Mandela of Asia' for his Sunshine Policy of North-South reconciliation.
Biographical Record
Kim Dae-jung (1924–2009) was a South Korean statesman and democracy activist who served as President of the Republic of Korea from 1998 to 2003. Known as the 'Nelson Mandela of Asia', Kim survived decades of brutal persecution under military dictatorships, including assassination attempts, kidnapping from a Tokyo hotel by Korean intelligence agents in 1973, and a death sentence following the 1980 Gwangju Uprising.
Elected president in 1997 during the devastating Asian Financial Crisis, Kim successfully steered South Korea through recovery via structural reforms. He initiated the visionary Sunshine Policy of peaceful engagement with North Korea, culminating in the historic June 2000 Pyongyang summit with Kim Jong-il—the first inter-Korean presidential meeting since the division of the peninsula. Awarded the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, he permanently cemented democracy and human rights in South Korea.
Key Life Milestones
First Peaceful Transfer of Power
Elected President, achieving the first peaceful transfer of power from a ruling party to an opposition leader in Korean history.
Inter-Korean Summit and Nobel Peace Prize
Conducted the historic Pyongyang summit with Kim Jong-il and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifelong work for democracy and peace.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialSeoul, South Korea