By Michael Breen
Kim Young-sam, the 87-year-old former president who died early Sunday, was one of the great champions of Korean democracy.
Elected in 1954 at just 25, when Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, he pushed for and oversaw the country's entry into the OECD club of advanced economies before his retirement as president in 1998.
Born on Geoje Island in 1927, Kim represented his hometown and districts in Busan nine times.
Like any politician, he had his critics. He was mocked by academics and journalists for his poor grasp of some issues. Despite a degree in philosophy from Seoul National University, he was not an intellectual. At a meeting of the Kwanhun Club for senior reporters he once famously got nuclear weapons and nuclear power mixed up. As president, his aides revealed, briefings had to be short, preferably on one page, or Kim would start to feel that what he was being forced to read was not important.
Many more criticized his unexpected decision in 1990 to merge his opposition Reunification Democratic Party with the ruling party of then-President Roh Tae-woo, and another opposition faction led by Kim Jong-pil.
Democrats were aghast that Kim could team up with former coup-makers and the right-hand men, respectively, of dictators Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, even though it was through this tactic that he became president. Ironically, the critics who were judging Kim Young-sam's new colleagues on personality, failed to recognize, as he did, that both had accepted democracy and submitted themselves to the judgment of the popular vote.
Through today's lens, in which political preferences fall left and right of an unclaimed center, Kim doesn't make the list of either side's favored past presidents.
Once in the Blue House, he did claim to be the first proper democratic president. That was cheeky and showed that, when it came to judging himself, he did so by personality, conveniently forgetting that he had lost the first proper democratic presidential election.
During his 1993-98 term, democracy and the economy moved forward. He introduced a ferocious anti-corruption campaign, but then who doesn't? Under his watch, the former coup-makers Chun and Roh were appropriately tried and sentenced for sedition and corruption; the concept of globalisation was introduced. On the negative side, Kim failed to seize the opportunity to respond graciously to the death of North Korea's dictator in a way that could have led to a measure of reconciliation as famine hit that country.
It is important to acknowledge that democracy was not created by those who criticized his accommodation with his former opponents. It was, in Korea, an evolution, not a revolution and Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and their colleagues in the 1980s, unlike the younger activists who had veered leftward, had the good sense to see that.
Despite that, for two audiences in particular - the people of Honam and foreign fans of Korea - "YS," as he was known, was always overshadowed by his rival faction leader, "DJ". He did not represent the disadvantaged part of Korea, he was not so articulate for democracy, and, unfortunately because it should not have mattered, he did not speak English. Nor was he so victimized by the anti-communist dictators, primarily because he had suffered at the hands of the communists. In 1960 North Korean agents murdered his mother.
The truth is that in those dark days of dictatorship, the flame of democracy was kept alive by competing factions whose leaders were those with the reputation and connections to keep the mission funded. That was why YS, DJ, and the third Kim, "JP" (Kim Jong-pil) were able to run, fail and run again in so many presidential elections without anyone daring to suggest that perhaps someone else should have a go.
For this reason, no one figure stands out in Korean democracy. And that is how it should be.
For, in truth, it was today's grandmothers and grandfathers who built the country with their hard work and who then demanded the right to choose their own leaders. They are Korea's greatest generation and it was they who turned the country into an exemplary democracy.
Kim Young-sam, to his credit, will go down in history as one who by virtue of his democratic instincts and sheer stubborn courage held fast as their representative, knew what was needed and saw it through.
Kim Young-sam, the 87-year-old former president who died early Sunday, was one of the great champions of Korean democracy.
Elected in 1954 at just 25, when Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, he pushed for and oversaw the country's entry into the OECD club of advanced economies before his retirement as president in 1998.
Born on Geoje Island in 1927, Kim represented his hometown and districts in Busan nine times.
Like any politician, he had his critics. He was mocked by academics and journalists for his poor grasp of some issues. Despite a degree in philosophy from Seoul National University, he was not an intellectual. At a meeting of the Kwanhun Club for senior reporters he once famously got nuclear weapons and nuclear power mixed up. As president, his aides revealed, briefings had to be short, preferably on one page, or Kim would start to feel that what he was being forced to read was not important.
Many more criticized his unexpected decision in 1990 to merge his opposition Reunification Democratic Party with the ruling party of then-President Roh Tae-woo, and another opposition faction led by Kim Jong-pil.
Democrats were aghast that Kim could team up with former coup-makers and the right-hand men, respectively, of dictators Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, even though it was through this tactic that he became president. Ironically, the critics who were judging Kim Young-sam's new colleagues on personality, failed to recognize, as he did, that both had accepted democracy and submitted themselves to the judgment of the popular vote.
Through today's lens, in which political preferences fall left and right of an unclaimed center, Kim doesn't make the list of either side's favored past presidents.
Once in the Blue House, he did claim to be the first proper democratic president. That was cheeky and showed that, when it came to judging himself, he did so by personality, conveniently forgetting that he had lost the first proper democratic presidential election.
During his 1993-98 term, democracy and the economy moved forward. He introduced a ferocious anti-corruption campaign, but then who doesn't? Under his watch, the former coup-makers Chun and Roh were appropriately tried and sentenced for sedition and corruption; the concept of globalisation was introduced. On the negative side, Kim failed to seize the opportunity to respond graciously to the death of North Korea's dictator in a way that could have led to a measure of reconciliation as famine hit that country.
It is important to acknowledge that democracy was not created by those who criticized his accommodation with his former opponents. It was, in Korea, an evolution, not a revolution and Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and their colleagues in the 1980s, unlike the younger activists who had veered leftward, had the good sense to see that.
Despite that, for two audiences in particular - the people of Honam and foreign fans of Korea - "YS," as he was known, was always overshadowed by his rival faction leader, "DJ". He did not represent the disadvantaged part of Korea, he was not so articulate for democracy, and, unfortunately because it should not have mattered, he did not speak English. Nor was he so victimized by the anti-communist dictators, primarily because he had suffered at the hands of the communists. In 1960 North Korean agents murdered his mother.
The truth is that in those dark days of dictatorship, the flame of democracy was kept alive by competing factions whose leaders were those with the reputation and connections to keep the mission funded. That was why YS, DJ, and the third Kim, "JP" (Kim Jong-pil) were able to run, fail and run again in so many presidential elections without anyone daring to suggest that perhaps someone else should have a go.
For this reason, no one figure stands out in Korean democracy. And that is how it should be.
For, in truth, it was today's grandmothers and grandfathers who built the country with their hard work and who then demanded the right to choose their own leaders. They are Korea's greatest generation and it was they who turned the country into an exemplary democracy.
Kim Young-sam, to his credit, will go down in history as one who by virtue of his democratic instincts and sheer stubborn courage held fast as their representative, knew what was needed and saw it through.
