| Kim Young-sam 김영삼 金泳三 |
|
|---|---|
| 14th President of the Republic of Korea | |
| In office 25 February 1993 – 25 February 1998 |
|
| Prime Minister | Hwang In Sung Lee Hoi Chang Lee Yung Duk Lee Hong Koo Lee Soo Sung Goh Kun |
| Preceded by | Roh Tae-woo |
| Succeeded by | Kim Dae-jung |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 20, 1927 Geoje, South Gyeongsang, Korea |
| Nationality | South Korea |
| Political party | Grand National (1997-present) Democratic Liberal (1990-1997) Democratic Reunification (1987-1990) New Korean Democratic (1985-1987) Democratic Korea (1981-1985) New Democracy (1954-1981) |
| Spouse(s) | Son Myung-soon |
| Religion | Presbyterianism |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Republic of Korea Army |
| Rank | student soldier |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 김영삼 |
| Hanja | 金泳三 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Yeongsam |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Yŏngsam |
| Pen name | |
| Hangul | 거산 |
| Hanja | 巨山 |
| Revised Romanization | Geosan |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kŏsan |
Kim Young-sam (Korea:김영삼, Hanja:金泳三, born 20 December 1927) was a South Korean politician and democratic activist. From 1961, he spent 30 years as South Korea's leader of the opposition, and one of Park Chung-hee's most powerful rivals.
He was the first civilian President of South Korea since a series of dictatorships dating back to Syngman Rhee. Kim Young-sam was inaugurated on 25 February 1993 and served a single 6-year term. He presided over a massive anti-corruption campaign, the arrest of his two predecessors, and an internationalization policy called Segyehwa.
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Kim graduated from Seoul National University in 1952 with a B.A. in Philosophy, and served in the South Korean armed forces during the Korean War. In 1954 he was elected to the National Assembly of South Korea and served nine terms representing districts in Geoje and Busan. He was the youngest ever to serve in the National Assembly.
He resigned his National Assembly seat when Syngman Rhee attempted to amend the constitution of South Korea and became a leading critic, with Kim Dae-jung, of the military governments of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. During Park Chung-hee's last year of reign (1979), Kim was elected as the head of the New Democratic Party, which won the 1978 election but did not come in power because of Yushin Constitution (1972) that Park ratified to guarantee perpetual dictatorship. Kim took the hardline policy of never compromising or cooperating with Park's Democratic Republican Party until Yushin Constitution was repealed and boldly criticized Park's dictatorship, which could be punished with imprisonment under Yushin Constitution. In August 1979, Kim allowed female workers at a wig company to use the headquarters of New Democratic Party as a place for their sit-in demonstration and pledged to protect them. Two thousand policemen raided the party headquarter and arrested the workers. In the process, one female worker died and many lawmakers trying to protect them were severely beaten, some requiring hospitalizations, which garnered widespread criticism and Kim's condemnation that Park's murderous dictatorship would soon collapse in a wretched way. After this incident, Park was determined to remove Kim from political scene like imprisoned Kim Dae-joong and instructed the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) to engineer such move. In September 1979, the court ordered the suspension of Kim's presidency of New Democratic Party. When Kim called on the U.S. to stop supporting Park's dictatorship in an interview with New York Times, Park wanted to imprison Kim while the Carter Admnistration, concerned over increasing violation of human rights, gave a strong warning not to persecute the opposition party. When Kim was expelled from the National Assembly in October 1979, the U.S. recalled her ambassador to Washington and all 66 lawmakers of New Democratic Party submitted resignation to the National Assembly. When it became known that the government was planning to accept the resignations selectively, uprisings broke out in Kim's hometown in Busan, resulting in 30 police stations being burned. It was the biggest demonstration since the days of President Rhee Seung Man and spread to nearby Masan and other cities, with students and citizens calling for overthrow of the dictatorship. The crisis was one of the main causes for assassination of Park Chung-hee by KCIA Director Kim Jae-kyu in October 26, 1979. (Park told Director Kim that he himself would give an order to fire upon demonstrators if the situation got worse.)
The government's oppression on opposition parties continued under military dicatorship of Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power with a military coup in December 12, 1979. He was expelled from the National Assembly for his democratic activities and banned from politics from 1980 to 1985. In 1983, he undertook a 21-day hunger strike protesting the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan.
When the first democratic presidential election was held in 1987 after Chun's retirement, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung ran against each other, splitting the opposition vote and enabling ex-general Roh Tae-woo, Chun's hand-picked successor, to win the election. In 1990, he unexpectedly merged his Peaceful Democracy Party with Roh's ruling D.J.P. (Democratic Justice Party). As the candidate of the center, he defeated Kim Dae-jung in the 1992 presidential election. He was only the third civilian to hold the office, and the first since 1960.
The Kim Young-sam administration attempted to reform the government and economy. One of the first acts of his government was to start an anti-corruption campaign, requiring government and military officials to publish their financial records, precipitating the resignation of several high-ranking officers and cabinet members. He had Chun and Roh arrested on charges of corruption and treason, winning convictions against both. Kim also granted amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, and removed the criminal convictions of pro-democracy protesters who had been arrested during the Gwangju massacre in the aftermath of the Coup d'état of December Twelfth (which is now officially described as a mutiny).
The anti-corruption campaign was also part of an attempt to reform the chaebol, the large South Korean conglomerates which dominated the economy. However, implication of corruption on the part of his second son, led to a loss of confidence; his new ministerial party, the DLP lost its narrow majority in the National Assembly in 1996. Kia Motors collapsed soon thereafter, setting off a chain of events which embroiled South Korea in the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis during the last year of his presidency. (South Korean presidents are limited to a single 5-year term according to the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of Korea.)
After his presidency, Kim promoted democracy throughout the world, speaking at events such as "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies" in Taiwan in January 2007.
Kim is a member of the Chunghyun Presbyterian Church [1] and is fluent in Japanese. He is married to Son Myung-soon [2]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Roh Tae-woo |
President of South Korea 1993-1999 |
Succeeded by Kim Dae-jung |
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