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Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the first South Korean to become a Roman Catholic cardinal, passed away Monday. He was 86.
The Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul said the cardinal passed away at 6:12 p.m.
Widely respected even among non-Catholics as the country's spiritual leader, Cardinal Kim was hospitalized with frail health in October last year and fell into brief comas several times, according to Yonhap News.
Kim was named archbishop of Seoul in 1968 at the age of 46, becoming the youngest member of the College of Cardinals at that time. He retired in 1998.
Kim was born in Daegu and studied philosophy at Sophia University in Tokyo and the Catholic University of Korea from 1947-1951. He later traveled to Germany to study sociology.
Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk succeeded Kim as Korea's second cardinal in 2006.
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