Kim Jong-pil was blessing and curse
Former lawmaker Kim Hong-up, a son of the late former President Kim Dae-jung, pays his respects to former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Sunday. Kim Jong-pil, an icon of modern Korean politics, died at the age of 92, Saturday. / Yonhap
Icon of modern Korean politics dies at 92 Saturday
By Yi Whan-woo
Kim Jong-pil, a former two-time prime minister widely known as “the perpetual No. 2” for helping three presidents rise to power but failing to win the presidency himself, died Saturday. He was 92.
Kim was pronounced dead on arrival at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul after being taken there after he had difficulty breathing, according to doctors.
They described the cause of death as age-related complications.
Kim is the last of the “Three Kims,” a group of late political heavyweights including two presidents _ Kim Young-sam, who died in 2015, and Kim Dae-jung, who died in 2009.
The three dominated the country's politics for decades, especially during the country's transition from military dictatorship to democracy from the late 1980s to 1990s.
Born in 1926, Kim Jong-pil graduated from the Korea Military Academy and was a key member of the 1961 military coup that put Army Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee in power until Park's assassination in 1979.
Under Park, Kim created and headed the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, a predecessor of the current National Intelligence Service, from 1961 to 1963
He also served as prime minister from 1971 to 1975, before being elected to parliament five times. Kim served four additional National Assembly terms for a record nine times before he retired from politics.
He left politics after Army Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who led the investigation into Park's assassination, seized power in another military coup in 1979.
Kim was accused of corruption and surrendered property worth millions of dollars before moving to the United States.
Kim returned to South Korea after Chun succumbed to massive public protests and allowed a free, direct presidential election in 1987.
He established his own conservative party competed in the 1987 presidential election against Chun's army compatriot and government candidate Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung.
Roh won the election for a five-year, single term presidency.
In a regionally-based political system, the two other Kims had to form an alliance with Kim Jong-pil to be elected president later because he was popular on his home turf, the Chungcheong provinces.
In 1990, Kim Jong-pil merged his party with then-ruling party of President Roh and another conservative opposition party led by Kim Young-sam. The so-called three-party merger helped Kim Young-sam win the presidency in 1992.
Following the 1997 presidential election, Kim Jong-pil ran for president but later formed an alliance with Kim Dae-jung and helped him win the election.
After Kim Dae-jung took office, Kim Jong-pil served as prime minister from 1998 to 2000, becoming the first person to hold the job twice and solidifying his image as “the perpetual No. 2.”
He left politics after failing in his bid for an Assembly seat in 2004. But politicians continued to visit him for years, well after a stroke in 2008 that limited his mobility.
He married a niece of Park Chung-hee, the father of Park Geun-hye, who was ousted from office in 2017 over an unprecedented corruption scandal and sentenced to 24 years in prison.
He was believed to have uneasy relationship with Park Geun-hye, after he threw his support for her rival Lee Myung-bak during their party primary ahead of the 2007 presidential election.
Lee was in office from 2007 to 2013, followed by Park.
Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as government officials and party leaders mourned Kim's death.
“The hand stains and footprints that the deceased left in the modern history of South Korean politics won't be removed easily,” Moon's senior press secretary Yoon Young-chan said in a message. “The empty space the deceased left will look even bigger than his presence in the politics. We will be missing him for a long time,” he said.
Lee referred to Kim as “the very person who embodied the honor and disgrace” of the country's modern history.