Korea President Kim Young-sam passes away at 87

He opposed the country’s military dictators for many years of time & laid the inspiration for a peaceful power convey as president. During his brief tenure in the top job Korea was hit by the Asian financial crisis and he was forced to accept a humiliating bailout from the global Monetary Fund.

“Now that the United Nations is being abused as a theatre for hurling slanders at the DPRK under the manipulation of the U.S. and the West, the DPRK will take corresponding measures”, the spokesman said, without elaborating.

Kim led South Koreans in a movement against military dictatorships before he rose to the presidency in 1993.

As North Korea began removing spent fuel from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor which could be reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium, military tensions on the Korean peninsula sky-rocketed. Upon taking office, he had two predecessors indicted on treason and mutiny charges stemming from a 1979 coup.

As president, Kim was credited with launching a popular anti-corruption campaign, an effort later tarnished by the arrest and conviction of his son on bribery and tax evasion charges.

Five years after North Korea fired shells on to a South Korean island, Pyongyang vowed on Sunday to retaliate mercilessly should Seoul hold fire drills near the border on the anniversary. Mr Kim lobbied against the idea. Kim survived the brutal Korean War during which he anchored a defense ministry propaganda radio program.

The Saenuri chief began his political career as an aide to the former president and has been known as a member of the party’s so-called Sangdo-dong faction, which refers to Kim Young-sam loyalists and is named for the location of his residence. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan and his military cronies rolled tanks and troops into Seoul to seize power in another coup that ended an interim government.

In the 1980s, he was also placed under house arrest twice for his activism, during which is staged a 23-day hunger strike to protest the government’s oppressive actions.

The funeral ceremony is to be held Thursday at the National Assembly where an official government altar for Kim is to be set up. In 1992, Kim became Korea’s 14th president after forging an alliance with his political opponents and defeating his fellow activist and rival Kim Dae-jung.