Former South Korean President dies

A USA aircraft carrier and a cruiser had been deployed near South Korea’s east coast in preparation for a possible air strike, and the United States planned to evacuate Americans, including its soldiers and their families, Mr Kim said in a memoir.

“The South’s military warmongers should get a grip on their mind…and behave in line with the August agreement”, the North’s Yellow Sea military command said – according to the KCNA – referring to a recent inter-Korea agreement aimed at defusing tension.

Upon taking office, Kim Young Sam launched a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown and disbanded a group of influential military officers.

Former US President Jimmy Carter brokered a deal under which the North agreed to freeze and eliminate its nuclear facilities, but that deal collapsed in 2002.

Authorities said he died of complications from sepsis and heart failure three days after being admitted to the hospital.

Kim parted ways with his opposition ally Kim Dae Jung when he joined forces with Roh in 1992 as a stepping stone to his presidency. He had ended decades of military rule in South Korea and accepted a massive worldwide bailout during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. During the Korean War, he anchored a Defense Ministry propaganda radio program.

Born in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province in 1927, Kim became Korea’s youngest elected lawmaker in 1954. At that time, he was in the ruling party of the late Syngman Rhee, South Korea’s first president. The merger was a political marriage of convenience: Roh wanted a parliamentary majority, and President Kim, who distrusted Kim Dae-jung as much as he detested the military dictators, believed he would never win the presidency as long as the Kim Dae-jung competed with him for the opposition vote.

During that chaotic period, Maj.

A leading figure in the pro-democracy movement, Kim was twice placed under house arrest for a total of two years in the early 1980s.

Once in the governing party, whose top hierarchy included many former generals, President Kim and his followers, vastly outnumbered by rival factions but all seasoned veterans in party politics, quickly expanded their ranks and dominated the party.

Kim’s son Hyon-chul was at his side during his final moments, but his wife Son Myung-soon was unable to be there.