Financial crisis clouded Kim's reformist drive
Former President Kim Young-sam speaks during a hunger strike to protest political oppression by the military regime under former President Chun Doo-hwan in this May 1983 file photo. / Korea Times file
By Kim Hyo-jin
The term of former President Kim Young-sam was marked by a stark contrast between reformist achievement and economic mismanagement.
Kim, who took office from 1993 to 1998, was credited with introducing transparency in the financial system and disbanding a military group. However, in the final stage of his presidency, his reputation was marred by an international bailout during the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis.
On taking office, Kim launched a strong anti-corruption drive.
Just two days after his inauguration in February, he made public his and family members’ assets worth 1.78 billion won ($1.53 million) and urged public officials to follow suit in his efforts to root out corruption in the administration.
Kim also introduced the real-name financial transaction system in August 1993, which banned people from running bank accounts under “borrowed” (fake) names. The accounts under pseudonyms had been widely used to run slush funds for politicians and businessmen.
Kim vowed to reduce the untaxed economy through the new system.
“Without implementing the real-name system, it’s impossible to eradicate corruption and irregularities and sever business and political collusion,” he said.
Kim, who ended the nation’s chain of military rulers, also stepped up efforts to eradicate authoritarian rule.
In the first year of his presidency, Kim purged an elite military faction called “Hanahoe.” It was known as the private fraternity of army officers who disrupted the proper chain of command by monopolizing promotions and plum posts. High-ranking army officers in the faction, including the Army Chief of Staff, were forced to step down.
Citing this as one of his most successful achievements, Kim later said, “The successive Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations would not have existed if I hadn’t disbanded Hanahoe.”
In 1995, Kim brought former President Roh Tae-woo and his predecessor Chun Doo-hwan to trial on charges of accepting bribes from conglomerates while in office. The two were also charged with mutiny and treason in the 1979 coup and the deadly crackdown on the 1980 Pro-Democracy Movement in Gwangju.
Roh and Chun served jail terms after being sentenced respectively to 22 years and life in jail, but were later pardoned.
The latter term of his presidency was marred by his son’s abuse of power. Kim Hyun-chul was jailed for accepting kickbacks from the defunct Hanbo group, the nation’s 14th-largest conglomerate at that time.
A few months later, Korea faced an unprecedented economic crisis, which forced it to receive a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. Kim was harshly criticized for failing to overhaul and reform the conglomerate-controlled system and to not doing enough to rescue the economy.