Kim Young-sam

This article is about the president. For the football player, see Kim Young-Sam (football).

This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.

Kim Young-sam 김영삼 金泳三
President Kim Young-sam in 1996.
14th President of South Korea
In office February 25, 1993 – February 25, 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 (1927-12-20) Geoje, South Gyeongsang, Japanese 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 (Korean: 김영삼; Hanja: 金泳三; born December 20, 1927) is a South Korean politician and democratic activist, who served as the 14th President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, he spent thirty years as South Korea's leader of the opposition, and one of Park Chung-hee's most powerful rivals.

Taking office in 1993, Kim was the first civilian President of South Korea since a series of dictatorships dating back to Syngman Rhee. Kim Young-sam was inaugurated on February 25, 1993 and served a single five year term of office. He presided over a massive anti-corruption campaign, the arrest of his two predecessors, and an internationalization policy called Segyehwa.

Biography

Early life and career

Kim was born in Geoje, during a time when Korea was under Japanese rule. During the Korean War, Kim graduated from Seoul National University, in 1952, with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, and also served in the South Korean armed forces during the Korean War. In 1954, Kim was elected to the National Assembly of South Korea and served nine terms representing districts in Geoje and Busan. Kim was the youngest ever to serve in the South Korean National Assembly.^{[citation needed]}

Entrance into politics

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. In 1979, the last year of Park Chung-hee's rule, 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 United States to stop supporting Park's dictatorship in an interview with the New York Times, Park wanted to have Kim imprisoned while the Carter Admnistration, concerned over increasing violation of human rights, issued a strong warning not to persecute members of the opposition party. When Kim was expelled from the National Assembly in October of 1979, the United States recalled its ambassador back to Washington, D.C., and all 66 lawmakers of New Democratic Party submitted resignation to the National Assembly. When it became known that the South Korean government was planning to accept the resignations selectively, uprisings broke out in Kim's hometown of Busan, resulting in 30 police stations being burned. It was the biggest demonstration since the days of President Syngman Rhee 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.)

Life after the presidency

After his presidency, Kim went around the world, promoting democracy, speaking at events such as "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies" in Taiwan in January 2007.

Personal life

Kim is a member of the Chunghyun Presbyterian Church and is fluent in Japanese and his native Korean.^{[citation needed]} He is married to Son Myung-soon.

See also

• Hannara Party
• History of South Korea
• List of Korea-related topics
• Kim Dae-Jung
• Roh Moo-hyun
• Roh Tae-yu

External links

• Kim Young-Sam Memorial Museum
• Kim Young-Sam, Hunjunghwe
• N.N.D.b. (Notable Names Database) - Kim Young-sam
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rep. of China - H.E Young-sam, Kim, Former Pres. of the Rep. of Korea and his delegation arrived in Taiwan
• Britannia Student Encyclopedia - Kim Young-sam
• YS-Sasamo:Kim Young-Sam Fan Club
• minjukorea:Kim Young-Sam Fan Club

Political offices
Preceded by Roh Tae-woo	President of South Korea 1993-1999	Succeeded by Kim Dae-jung