Former SoKor president Kim Young-Sam dies at 87
SEOUL (AFP) — Former South Korean president Kim Young-Sam, whose election pulled down the final curtain on more than 30 years of military rule, died yesterday, hospital officials said. He was 87.
The pro-democracy activist who served as president from 1993-1998, was suffering from a serious blood infection and died shortly after midnight, several days after being hospitalized with a high fever, Seoul National University Hospital president Oh Byung-Hee told reporters.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye expressed “deep condolences,” her spokesman said.
Kim’s term was bookended by two major events, the first nuclear crisis with North Korea in 1994 and the Asian financial crisis of 199798, when he accepted a $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
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.
He stood in South Korea’s first free direct presidential election in 1987, but split the opposition vote with fellow activist Kim Dae-jung, allowing the former general Roh Tae-Woo to take office.
He defeated Kim Dae-jung in the 1992 election and was inaugurated the following year — becoming only the third civilian to hold the office and first since 1962.
In office, Kim launched a popular anti-corruption campaign and had his two predecessors, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh, arrested on bribery charges that later morphed into trial for mutiny and treason.