Former South Korean president Kim Young-sam remembered as reformer and anti

Former South Korean president Kim Young-Sam, whose election pulled down the final curtain on more than 30 years of military rule, died on Sunday, hospital officials said.

Kim, who had been hospitalized with a fever and breathing problems since Thursday, died at 12:21 a.m., according to Seoul National University Hospital.

The end of Kim’s presidency was clouded by the Asian financial crisis – still known in South Korea as the global Monetary Fund crisis, because of the massive bail-out negotiated with the world lender.

In a separate report, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said if Seoul respects the deal signed in August to defuse military tensions, the South must behave accordingly.

South Korea said planned military firing drills would go ahead on Monday near a disputed maritime border with North Korea, which has threatened “merciless retaliation” if Seoul fires into its waters on the anniversary of a 2010 bombing that killed four people. Upon taking office, he had two predecessors indicted on treason and mutiny charges stemming from a 1979 coup.

The funeral ceremony is slated to be held at 2:00 p.m., with President Park Geun-hye, high-level politicians and foreign delegates in attendance at a plaza in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, central Seoul.

During his term he also saw his son arrested on charges of bribery and tax evasion, dealing a blow to his legacy as an anti-corruption fighter.

Kim was born into a rich fishing family on December 20, 1927, on Geoge Island, off the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, when the country was still under Japanese colonial rule. Kim staged a 23-day hunger strike that helped his return to politics. During the Korean War, he anchored a Defense Ministry propaganda radio program.

In 1992, five years after his first unsuccessful presidential bid, Mr. Kim became head of the ruling party and was elected president.

But a few months later, he broke with the ruling party in protest over a constitutional revision and joined the opposition party, drawing anger from military rulers.