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| Former Presidents Kim Young-sam, left, and Kim Dae-jung hold a meeting at a Seoul hotel in this July 1986 file photo. They were longtime colleagues and rivals in the pro-democracy movement and politics. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The death of former President Kim Young-sam, Sunday, brought an end to the "Two Kim" era that once dominated Korean politics, beginning in the 1970s.
The term encapsulates the nation's process of democratization and refers to Kim and Kim Dae-jung, who was president from 1998 until 2003 and died in 2009.
Kim Young-sam's presidency preceded his from 1993 to 1998.
The two Kims were longtime colleagues during the fight against the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s, but they later became rivals when they both made bids for the presidency.
Kim Young-sam described the relationship between the two men as "the oldest rivals and allies" and "a special relationship that is unprecedented in the world." He made the remark when visiting Kim Dae-jung in hospital just before his death in August 2009.
The two first squared off in 1968 during a floor election for a new leader of the New Democratic Party, which Kim Young-sam won.
Then the two took on each other again in 1970 in the party's primary to elect a presidential candidate. Kim Dae-jung won this time, and Kim Young-sam supported the other Kim's triumph, by commenting "Kim Dae-jung's victory is the same as mine."
The two then fought together against the 1972 Yushin Constitution set up by former President Park Chung-hee, an Army general and the father of President Park Geun-hye, which provided the groundwork for then-President Park to extend his authoritarian rule.
The two also joined hands and went head-to-head with the military regime led by Army Gen. Chun Doo-hwan in 1980s, serving as two pillars of the nation's pro-democracy movement in June 1987.
The uprising, which demanded constitutional change to guarantee a democratic election, ended in success when the military ruler Chun stepped down and agreed to adopt a direct presidential election system.
But the two became divided during the presidential election of 1987 because they failed to agree on who was going to be the opposition bloc's single candidate. Both of them ran for the president at the time, and this led Roh Tae-woo, another Army general, to become elected as president. Roh helped his friend and predecessor, former President Chun, in a power grab after the Oct. 26, 1979 assassination of late President Park.
In his autobiography, Kim Dae-jung regretted this decision bitterly, saying "At the time, I should have made a concession." Kim Young-sam also blamed himself when recalling that election in a media interview he held after the other Kim died.
The two maintained an antagonistic relationship following the 1987 presidential election.
In 1990, Kim Young-sam participated in a controversial merger of three political parties that consisted of two opposition parties and the ruling one. At the time, he tried to defend himself, saying "I came into a tiger's den to catch tiger," but Kim Dae-jung and other opposition figures criticized him for "betraying" the opposition bloc.
In 1992, the two Kims ran against each other in a presidential election in which Kim Young-sam was elected president. After his defeat, the other Kim retired from politics for three years and left for the United Kingdom.
Kim Dae-jung became the successor to Kim Young-sam in the 1997 presidential election at which the former linked up with conservative Kim Jong-pil who led a minority party which was widely supported by Chungcheong Province residents.
Hostile relations between the two Kims continued even after Kim Dae-jung took power as he pushed for investigations to be conducted into corruption cases involving figures of the Kim Young-sam government, which led to the imprisonment of his second son, Hyun-chul.
Kim Young-sam described the other Kim as a "betrayer" and even degraded the latter's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.
Reconciliation between the two was eventually achieved when Kim Young-sam visited his former rival in August 2009, just before Kim Dae-jung died.
At the time, Kim Young-sam told reporters: "You can now see us reconciling. It is time."
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
