Former South Korean president dies

Former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung has died, it was reported today.

The 85-year-old leader had been in hospital since last month with pneumonia.

Yonhap news agency said he died today at a Seoul hospital.

Mr Kim was South Korea’s president from 1998 to 2003. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at reconciliation with North Korea, including a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.

Mr Kim survived assassination attempts and a death sentence during his years as a dissident to become president of South Korea.

His career spanned South Korea’s political upheaval, from the decades of harsh authoritarian rule to its first steps towards becoming a fully-fledged democracy.

As president from 1998-2003, he was the architect of the “sunshine policy” of reaching out to wartime rival North Korea as a way to encourage reconciliation.

South Korean leaders, friends and former foes, had been paying their respects to Mr Kim for days.

As a pro-democracy opposition MP, Mr Kim built a reputation as a passionate champion of human rights and democracy who fought against South Korea’s military dictatorships.

One of the assassination attempts against him included a dramatic 1973 abduction at a Tokyo hotel, allegedly by South Korean agents.

His peacemaking efforts led to an unprecedented thaw in relations with the North and culminated in a historic North-South summit – the first on the divided peninsula – and a jubilant meeting in Pyongyang with leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.

Mr Kim is survived by his wife Lee Hee-ho, and three sons. His first wife, Cha Yong-ae, died in 1960.