Korea has truly lost one of its greatest sons. Kim Dae-jung passed away on 18 August after a lifetime of struggling for democracy and human rights in Korea and in Asia. By his own account, he escaped death five times as successive governments in Korea sought to silence him. To much of the world, he was most famous for the sunshine policy towards North Korea, but my memories of him - formed because they coincided with my time in Korea - were of his conviction for sedition and his death sentence in 1980 and then as an opposition politician in the 1990s before becoming President in 1998. Without him (and this is not to say he fought alone: there were many other heroes, famous or not) Korea would not have made the transition to the vibrant democracy it is now. And also among his many achievements we should not forget the decisive and effective action he took as President to bring Korea out of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. But certainly my most vivid memory of him will be seeing him in early July and being struck by how passionate he was - even though he was clearly not at all strong physically - about human rights in Burma. He never stopped fighting for causes he believed in.
Posted at 09:47 26 August 2009 by Martin Uden | Comments[0]
- Share this with:
-
-
-
-
-
Former President Kim Dae-jung has been in hospital in Seoul for about two weeks now, and is now in intensive care. I felt I had to go to the hospital to offer any support I could to the family, especially given the links they have with the UK - the President lived in Cambridge in the early 90s and had been host to the Queen during the State Visit of 1999. Readers may recall I called on him in early July to talk about Burma.
I met members of his staff and Mrs Lee Hee-ho, the former First Lady, and spent a few minutes with them. It was good to see that bringing back memories was some comfort.
It happened that I visited the hospital on the anniversary of the day that President Kim returned from Japan 36 years previously after surviving an assassination attempt. He saw this as one of a series of miraculous escapes from death. I can only hope that there will be a repeat of that escape.
Posted at 09:38 14 August 2009 by Martin Uden | Comments[1]
- Share this with:
-
-
-
-
-
I normally don't say much about the many private meetings that I hold in Seoul, but this morning I called on Kim Dae-jung, former President of Korea and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I went to see him to thank him for his continued attention to the imprisonment of his fellow Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and specifically for his contribution to the website set up for ASSK's 64th birthday.
We discussed Secretary-General Ban's visit to Burma tomorrow and the sad fact the ASSK's trial is to resume the same day. It was encouraging to see the very clear focus that President Kim has on the plight of ASSK and his strong support for pro-democracy elements there. Coming from a man who did so much to bring democracy to Korea, I found it truly heartening.
President Kim kindly agreed that I could mention our conversation and his staunch support for the people of Burma.
Posted at 17:19 02 July 2009 by Martin Uden | Comments[0]
- Share this with:
-
-
-
-
-