Facts about ex-South Korea leader Kim Dae-jung

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-18 13:45

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the first summit between leaders of the two Koreas, died on Tuesday, a hospital official said.

Following are five facts about the leader born on January 6, 1924, according to official records although the exact date of birth remains uncertain.

* Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2000 for helping to arrange the unprecedented summit of leaders on the divided Korean peninsula. Then President Kim met the leader of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong-il, for a summit on June 15, 2000.

* Elected president in December 1997. His victory marked the first time in South Korea that power had shifted from a ruling party president to a president from the opposition. He served from 1998 to 2003.

* A key figure in South Korea's struggle for democracy. Survived several assassination attempts. Was sentenced to death in 1980 on charges of treason. The sentence was commuted to life in prison and then to 20 years before it was suspended in 1982.

* Was kidnapped by South Korean secret agents at a Tokyo hotel in August 1973.

* He suffered six years imprisonment, three years of exile and 10 years under house arrest and surveillance because he refused to cooperate with South Korea's military rulers.