Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung Dies

Kim was elected the President of South Korea in 1997. With his so-called "sunshine policy", he aimed to bring about a thaw in South and North Korean ties. He visited North Korea in 2000 to hold the first ever inter-Korean summit and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize later that year.

"As Alfred Nobel would expect of us, I shall give the rest of my life to human rights and peace in Korea and the world, and to the reconciliation and cooperation of the Korean people," Kim said.

But towards the end of his term, dark clouds began to loom over the bright, sunny sky. The North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il provoked the world with missile and nuclear tests.

Later it also emerged that a South Korean company secretly paid the communist regime to attend the historic summit.

Inter-Korean relations

Talks between the two Koreas have faltered ever since and with conservative President Lee Myung-bak taking charge in early 2008 and ending the policy of unconditional aid to Pyongyang, the bilateral ties soured further.

But Kim remained optimistic.

"The North Koreans will change greatly in the future," he once said. "The South provides a large part of the relief supplies to the North. And the goods are labelled: Made in Korea. Earlier, the North Koreans knew about the South only what the government’s propaganda told them. Now they see that South Korea is well off, and they also want to be so wealthy."

Difficult past

During the South Korean military dictatorship in the 60s and 70s, Kim Dae-jung spent more than ten years in prison or under house arrest. In 1973, he was abducted by the agents of the South Korean secret police. Only a speedy intervention by Washington saved his life.

In 1980 he was sent into prison on charges of treason and was sentenced to death. Kim survived, thanks to international protests, as he often told audiences abroad, also in Berlin:

"When I was sentenced to death, many in Germany campaigned for me. In particular, German Chancellor Willy Brandt, President Richard von Weizsäcker, Helmut Schmidt and Hans Dietrich Genscher. Without their commitment I would be no longer alive. I am very grateful to Germany."

Kim’s belief in gradual reconciliation

Kim’s sunshine policy was always compared with the German Ostpolitik of the seventies, which contributed to the improvement of ties between the West and the Eastern Europe, including former East Germany.

Kim believed that the two Koreas could gradually follow the German example of the reunification.

But the sunshine policy’s failure to last after Kim’s term and the then US administration’s attempt to put North Korea along with Iran and Iraq in the so-called “axis of evil” troubled him a lot.

"The European Union should engage more in Korea," Kim said. "For us, Europe is a model for peace. The EU should offer North Korea talks, if North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons. Europe has a strong international political authority and I hope that the EU could contribute in the Korean peace process."

The fact that hardly anyone believed in Kim's vision never irritated him. He always believed that someday the dark clouds would drift away and the sun would shine again.

Author: Mathias Bölinger/Disha Uppal
Editor: Grahame Lucas