Editing Kim Dae-jung (section)

==Early political career==
[[File:金泳三与金大中.jpg|thumb|Kim Dae-jung and [[Kim Young-sam]] in 1960]]
Kim disposed his business, and entered politics in earnest from Mokpo in 1954 during the administration of Korea's first president, [[Syngman Rhee]]. From 1954 to 1960, he was defeated four times in elections. In 1956, he became the official party spokesman for the opposition [[Democratic Party (South Korea, 1955)|Democratic Party]] led by former prime minister [[Chang Myon]].<ref name="NYT profile"/> Cha Yong-ae, Kim's wife, died unexpectedly in 1959, and Kim subsequently converted to Catholicism.

Although he was elected as a representative in a by-election for the [[National Assembly of South Korea|National Assembly]] on 14 May 1961, [[Park Chung Hee]] seized power two days later in the [[May 16 coup]], and later assumed dictatorial powers, voiding the elections.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/317874/Kim-Dae-Jung?source=RSSBTH20090818 |title=Kim Dae Jung |year=2009 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312123000/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/317874/Kim-Dae-Jung?source=RSSBTH20090818 |archive-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> He was briefly arrested, before having his rights restored.

In 1962, Kim married [[Lee Hee-ho]], a Christian activist, and had another son.

He was able to win a seat in the House in the subsequent elections in 1963 and 1967 and went on to become an eminent opposition leader.

===1971 presidential campaign===
{{see also|1971 South Korean presidential election}}
[[File:Kim_Dae-jung_billboard,_1971.jpg|thumb|left|Campaign poster featuring Kim in the 1971 presidential election]]
After completing a master's course in economics at [[Kyung Hee University]] in 1970,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Khatri|first1=Vikas|title=Nobel Peace Prize Winners|date=2012|publisher=V&S Publishers|location=|isbn=|page=80}}</ref> he ran as opposition candidate for the country's [[1971 South Korean presidential election|presidential election in 1971]], against President Park Chung Hee. President Park had removed term limits and was seeking to run for a third term. A very talented orator, Kim could command unwavering loyalty among his supporters. Kim won the nomination of the opposition party over [[Kim Young-sam]], another pro-democracy politician.

Kim promised a welfare-oriented "mass economy" and also advocated easing tensions with North Korea, while predicting correctly that if Park was reelected, he would become a "[[generalissimo]]".<ref name="dem profile">{{cite web|url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/kim-dae-jungs-role-in-the-democratization-of-south-korea/ |title=Kim Dae-jung's Role in the Democratization of South Korea|date=2014 |work=Association for Asian Studies |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref>

His staunchest support came from his home region of [[Jeolla]], where he reliably garnered upwards of 95% of the popular vote, a record that has remained unsurpassed in [[South Korean politics]]. He performed strongly, achieving a strong showing of 45% of the vote against [[Park Chung Hee|Park]] despite handicaps on his candidacy that were imposed by the ruling regime.<ref name="Nobel">{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2000/dae-jung-bio.html |title=Kim Dae-jung – Biography |year=2000 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |access-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830014439/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2000/dae-jung-bio.html |archive-date=30 August 2009}}</ref> With this strong showing, Park saw Kim as a threat to his rule.

===1971 assassination attempt===
One month later after the presidential election, while Kim was campaigning for legislative elections, a truck turned directly into the path of his car and seriously injured him and his two aides. Suffering a hip joint injury <ref name="NYT profile"/> he was left with a permanent limp. It has been suspected that the collision was an assassination attempt by [[Park Chung Hee|Park]]'s regime.<ref name="The Seoul Times">{{cite news|url=http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=8717 |title=Former S. Korean President Kim Dae-Jung Dies |date=18 August 2009 |work=The Seoul Times |access-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170921/http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=%2FST%2Fdb%2Fread.php%3Fidx%3D8717 |archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> Shortly after, he left for Japan and began an exile movement as President Park launched a [[self-coup]] and introduced the dictatorial Yushin Constitution of 1972.

===1973 kidnapping by KCIA===
{{Main|Kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung}}
Kim was almost killed in August 1973, when he was kidnapped from a hotel in Tokyo by [[National Intelligence Service (South Korea)|KCIA]] agents in response to his criticism of President Park's ''[[Yusin Constitution|yushin]]'' program, which granted near-dictatorial powers. Years later, Kim reflected on these events during his 2000 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] lecture:

{{Blockquote|I have lived, and continue to live, in the belief that God is always with me. I know this from experience. In August of 1973, while exiled in Japan, I was kidnapped from my hotel room in Tokyo by intelligence agents of the then military government of South Korea. The news of the incident startled the world. The agents took me to their boat at anchor along the seashore. They tied me up, blinded me, and stuffed my mouth. Just when they were about to throw me overboard, Jesus Christ appeared before me with such clarity. I clung to him and begged him to save me. At that very moment, an airplane was sent down from Heavens by the almighty God Himself to rescue me from the moment of death.|Kim Dae-jung<ref name="Kim Dae-jung - Nobel Lecture">{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2000/dae-jung-lecture.html |title=Kim Dae-jung – Nobel Lecture |year=2000 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |access-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511233503/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2000/dae-jung-lecture.html |archive-date=11 May 2012 }}</ref>}}

[[Philip Habib]], the US ambassador in [[Seoul]], had interceded for him with the South Korean government; the "airplane" referred to was a patrol plane from the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]] which was tracking the kidnappers.<ref>{{Cite book|last1= Oberdorfer|first1=Don|last2=Carlin|first2=Robert |title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History |publisher=Basic Books|year=2014 |page=35 |isbn=9780465031238}}</ref>
 
Kim was returned to South Korea, then put under house arrest and banned from politics. He was imprisoned in 1976 for having participated in the proclamation of an anti-government manifesto and sentenced for five years in prison, which was reduced to [[house arrest]] in December 1978.<ref name="Nobel"/> During this period, he was designated a [[prisoner of conscience]] by [[Amnesty International]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/kim-dae-jung-human-rights-champion-former-south-korean-president-dies-20090819 |title=Kim Dae-jung, human rights champion and former South Korean president, dies |date=19 August 2009 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=11 May 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305175148/http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/kim-dae-jung-human-rights-champion-former-south-korean-president-dies-20090819 |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref>

In October 2007, the National Intelligence Service, successor to the KCIA, admitted that the KCIA carried out the plot. The NIS expressed its regret and had planned to kill and dump Kim into the sea. While the NIS panel said President Park "at least gave a passive approval", the panel added it could not prove Park directly ordered the kidnapping at the time.<ref>{{cite news |date= 24 October 2007|title= South Korea spy unit admits kidnapping Nobel winner|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-spy-idUSSEO30328620071024|access-date= 27 October 2021}}</ref>

===Death sentence and exile===
Kim had his political rights briefly restored in December 1979 by acting President [[Choi Kyu-hah]] after [[assassination of Park Chung-hee|Park was assassinated]], shortly before the [[Coup d'état of December Twelfth]] by Major General [[Chun Doo-hwan]].<ref name="dem profile"/>

In the wake of the coup, Chun's regime began a new wave of repression, falsely accusing Kim of instigating the May 1980 [[Gwangju massacre|popular uprising]] in [[Gwangju]], his political stronghold, and arrested him on charges of [[sedition]] and conspiracy. He was sentenced to death in September 1980.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/world/asia/19kim.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all |title=Kim Dae-jung, 83, Ex-President of South Korea, Dies |last=Choe |first=Sang-hun |date=18 August 2009 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326162311/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/world/asia/19kim.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all |archive-date=26 March 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:President_Ronald_Reagan_with_President_Chun_Doo_Hwan_of_South_Korea.jpg|thumb|President [[Chun Doo-hwan]] visiting U.S.  President [[Ronald Reagan]] at the [[White House]] in February 1981. Reagan invited Chun, in exchange for Chun commuting Kim Dae-jung's death sentence.]]
Pope [[John Paul II]] sent a letter to then-South Korean President [[Chun Doo-hwan]] on 11 December 1980, asking for clemency for Kim, a Catholic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16073/john-paul-iis-appeal-saved-future-korean-president-from-death-sentence |title=John Paul II's appeal saved future Korean president from death sentence |date=21 May 2009 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=25 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407092426/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/john_paul_iis_appeal_saved_future_korean_president_from_death_sentence/ |archive-date=7 April 2014 }}</ref> American intelligence understood that Chun wanted Kim's execution to take place during the U.S. presidential transition between the outgoing president [[Jimmy Carter]] and president-elect [[Ronald Reagan]]. The outgoing Carter Administration, which had poor relations with the South Korean government, asked Reagan's incoming National Security Advisor [[Richard V. Allen]] to intervene. Allen, not wanting the Reagan Administration to be blamed for the execution, told Chun that Reagan was opposed to Kim's execution. Allen asked for Kim's sentence to be commuted, and Chun, who was eager to seek American acceptance of his rule following the 1980 coup, accepted in exchange for an invitation to be one of the first foreign leaders to visit the new Reagan Administration at the White House in February 1981.<ref name="NYT profile">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/23/magazine/a-korean-exile-s-long-journey-home.html |title=KA KOREAN EXILE'S LONG JOURNEY HOME |last=Ungar|first=Sanford J. |date=23 December 1984 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/kim-dae-jung-a-future-leaders-moment-of-truth/ |title=Kim Dae Jung: A Future Leader's Moment of Truth|date=24 December 1997 |work=Brookings Institution |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/05/113_50386.html |title=White House Saved Kim's Life in 1981|date=19 August 2009 |work=[[The Korea Times]] |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref><ref>In the early 1980s Kim described this "intervention" at an Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International-USA. He was bound and naked, on the floor of a room with other dissidents awaiting helicopter rides out over the [[Sea of Japan]] where they would "disappear". A U.S. embassy official walked in, pointed to him, and said "Him, not yet."</ref> Kim's sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison.

In December 1982, he was given exile in the U.S. and temporarily settled in [[Boston]] and taught at [[Harvard University]] as a visiting professor to the Center for International Affairs.<ref name="OCGG">{{cite web|url=http://ocgg.org/index.php/643/0/ |title=Board of Advisors – Kim Dae-jung |date=n.d. |publisher=The Oxford Council on Good Governance |access-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315030627/http://ocgg.org/index.php/643/0/ |archive-date=15 March 2009 }}</ref> During his period abroad, he authored a number of opinion pieces in leading western newspapers that were sharply critical of the South Korean government. On 30 March 1983, Kim presented a speech on human rights and democracy at [[Emory University]] in [[Atlanta]], Georgia and accepted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the institution.

===Return to South Korea===
Two years later, in February 1985, he returned to his homeland, accompanied by thirty-seven supporters, including [[Patricia M. Derian]], former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, two congressmen, and a number of other prominent Americans. Upon arrival in Seoul, many of his traveling companions were roughed up by the KCIA, while Kim and his wife, [[Lee Hee-ho]] were immediately put under house arrest.<ref name="dem profile"/>

Following the ruling government's drubbing in the [[1985 South Korean legislative election]], Chun lifted the ban on fourteen opposition politicians, but not for Kim Dae-jung.<ref name="dem profile"/>

===Release, amnesty and 1987 presidential campaign===
{{see also|1987 South Korean presidential election}}
During the [[June Struggle]] of 1987 against Chun Doo-hwan, Chun succumbed to popular demand, releasing Kim Dae-jung and also allowing the country's first free presidential election.<ref name="dem profile"/> The [[June 29 Declaration]] by ex-General [[Roh Tae-woo]], Chun Doo-hwan's handpicked successor, saw Kim given an amnesty and his political rights restored.

Kim and the other leading opposition figure, [[Kim Young-sam]], initially promised to unite behind one candidate. However, disagreements between the two men over who was in a better position to win made Kim Dae-Jung split from the main opposition party, the Reunification Democratic Party, and formed the Peace Democratic Party to run for the presidency. As a result, the opposition vote was split, and Roh won with only 36.6% of the popular vote. Kim Young-sam received 28% and Kim Dae-jung 27% of the votes.

In July 2019, according to American [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) documents obtained by Hong Kong's ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' through a freedom of information request, the military-backed ruling forces drew up detailed plans to fix the election result in case Roh lost. The documents suggested that the government was prepared to crack down hard on any unrest following the vote, with an Intel briefing stating that an "open arrest order" had been prepared for Kim Dae-jung if he tried to "instigate a popular revolt against the election results".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3019439/secret-cia-files-reveal-plans-meddling-south-koreas-first|title=Secret CIA files reveal plans for meddling in South Korea's first democratic election|last=Power|first=John|date=20 July 2019|work=[[South China Morning Post]]|accessdate=20 July 2019}}</ref> As Roh won the election, the plans were not implemented.

Kim was subsequently elected to the National Assembly in 1988 and 1992.

===Hunger strike===
In October 1990, Kim embarked on a hunger strike which lasted 13 days, demanding that the Roh Tae-woo government abandon efforts to amend the Constitution for a parliamentary system of government, and to implement local self-government. He was successful, when Roh decided to accede to Kim's demands.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1990/10/20/Kim-Dae-Jung-ends-13-day-long-protest-fast/9048656395200/|title=Kim Dae Jung ends 13-day-long protest fast|date=20 October 1990|work=[[United Press International]]|accessdate=23 December 2024}}</ref>

===1992 presidential campaign and hiatus===
{{see also|1992 South Korean presidential election}}
In 1992, Kim made yet another failed bid for the presidency, this time solely against Kim Young-sam, who had merged the RDP with the ruling [[Democratic Justice Party]] to form the Democratic Liberal Party in 1990, which eventually became the [[Grand National Party]].<ref name="Britannica"/> Kim then announced his retirement from politics.

Kim then departed for the United Kingdom to take a position at [[Clare Hall, Cambridge]], as a visiting scholar.<ref name=" OCGG"/>