Kim Young Sam

Opposition leader Kim Young Sam made what a party spokesman described as virtually a declaration of his candidacy for president Wednesday, but his rival, Kim Dae Jung, said he questions the other Kim's commitment to democracy. Kim Young Sam, president of the Reunification Democratic Party, said at a news conference that he considers himself best qualified to run as the liberal opposition standard bearer in the election scheduled to take place before Dec. 20.

A convicted industrialist told a parliamentary hearing Thursday that he gave former President Kim Young Sam $12.5 million in illegal campaign funds in 1992. The testimony by Chung Tae-soo, 76, former owner of bankrupt Hanbo Steel Industries Co., contradicted a repeated claim by the former president that he never received any money from Chung or other businessmen.

Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam, opposition rivals for the South Korean presidency, Sunday addressed a rally of students who repeatedly chanted for the latter to pull out of the race. "We can achieve revolution through election," Kim Dae Jung told the partisan crowd. He urged them to support a national referendum Tuesday on constitutional amendments authorizing the December presidential balloting.

In an extraordinarily blunt and contrite farewell address to the nation today, outgoing President Kim Young Sam apologized for a five-year term that has proved a bitter disappointment to many South Koreans. "I cannot but admit frankly that my efforts fell short of your expectations," Kim said in a speech from the Blue House, South Korea's White House.

Kim Young Sam on Wednesday dismissed as unthinkable a proposal by rival Kim Dae Jung that the two opposition leaders campaign as independents and then let the people decide which of them should face the ruling party's candidate in the December presidential election. Kim Young Sam charged that Kim Dae Jung's proposal was "designed to dissolve the opposition party," adding: "It defies the rule of party politics and the politics of responsibility. It would betray the people."

Opposition leader Kim Young Sam apologized Tuesday for splitting the opposition vote in last week's presidential election and said his party will participate in the coming election for the National Assembly. Kim's apology followed one Monday by his rival, Kim Dae Jung. The two Kims lost last Wednesday's balloting to Roh Tae Woo, candidate of the governing Democratic Justice Party. Roh won with nearly 37% of the vote. Together, the two Kims received 55% of the vote.

Delivering on his promise, Kim Young Sam pulled in a massive crowd Saturday for the kickoff rally of his presidential campaign. "I have the absolute trust of the people," the 59-year-old opposition politician asserted in a rousing speech to the enthusiastic throng in this big southeastern port, the country's second-largest city and Kim's hometown. His aides estimated the crowd at more than 1 million.

Kim Young Sam, cementing his opposition candidacy, accepted the presidential nomination of the fractured Reunification Democratic Party on Monday and called again on his rival, Kim Dae Jung, to return to the fold. "I know that fielding a single presidential candidate from our democratic forces is a mandate," Kim told 1,200 cheering supporters packed into an auditorium in downtown Seoul. "On my part, I have made efforts. . . . But I regret that Kim Dae Jung deserted . . . to form his own party."

Kim Young Sam, president of the opposition Reunification Democratic Party, predicted here Friday night that he will win the Dec. 16 presidential election by a majority vote and said his main opposition rival, Kim Dae Jung, is running third among four major contenders. "If the election were held tomorrow," the 59-year-old leader said in an interview, "I would not get more than 50% of the votes, although I am the front-runner."

Presidential nominee Kim Young Sam, seeking to establish himself as the leading opposition candidate in the Dec. 16 election, attended a massive rally here Saturday, during which a former minor-party candidate threw her support to him. Kim failed, however, to draw a measurably larger crowd than that attracted to the same huge plaza last Sunday by his opposition rival, Kim Dae Jung. The site can hold an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million people.

Outgoing President Kim Young Sam has nearly three weeks left on the job, but he has virtually been erased from the picture. In what must be one of the most unusual political transitions in democratic history, the leader has effectively been deposed ahead of time. While incoming President Kim Dae Jung, who was elected in December, is running the country, what is the outgoing Kim up to?

At first glance, the situation in South Korea these days looks like a recipe for political paralysis. The country is in economic crisis. President Kim Young Sam is a lame duck. His successor, Kim Dae Jung, doesn't take office until Feb. 25, and the former dissident frightens some bureaucrats who are nervous about change and political retribution. Nearly 60% of voters in last month's election favored other candidates.

In a bold step toward national reconciliation, President Kim Young Sam and his elected successor, Kim Dae Jung--both former dissidents--have agreed to pardon and release two former military-backed presidents imprisoned for mutiny, treason and bribery, the government announced today. "President Kim Young Sam has decided to give special pardons in order to provide momentum for grand national reconciliation," presidential spokesman Shin Woo Jae said in a nationally televised statement.

With their high-growth economy now in receivership to the International Monetary Fund and long years of readjustment in store, South Koreans gloomily contemplate a long, cold winter. For the ruling groups of the past few decades, even worse news comes in the form of Korea's best-known dissident, Kim Dae Jung, who is leading the polls in advance of Thursday's elections.

The specter of South Korea's economic turmoil evokes memories of the early years after the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War in July 1953. Discipline was the only way to pull a nation from poverty, and strong leaders in the mold of emperors, who united the country in dynastic wars and fended off Japanese invaders hundreds of years before, were in demand.

South Korea's President Kim Young Sam, beset by scandals that landed close aides in jail, bowed to demands by his party's presidential candidate Friday and quit the New Korea Party that he founded. His spokesman said Kim quit to ensure a fair presidential election and concentrate on running the country, but the demand from party candidate Lee Hoi Chang was seen as a blunt attack on Kim that could further split the party.

Kim Young Sam, who finished second in the Dec. 16 presidential election, declared Wednesday that all opposition forces should unite in his Reunification Democratic Party to contest a National Assembly election next year.

Kim Young Sam, head of the Reunification Democratic Party, declared today that he will run as a candidate for president, setting up a split of the opposition against authoritarian President Chun Doo Hwan's handpicked nominee. In a hastily called news conference, Kim said he reached his decision without consulting Kim Dae Jung, the other leading opposition figure, who told a South Korean newspaper Friday that he feels "an obligation to the people to run for president."

The president's son is going to jail, and to Yoon Jae Hee that is proof that South Korea is finally learning the rule of law. "Many youth bled to achieve democracy. This is the result of their struggle," Yoon, a 48-year-old banker, said Monday upon hearing that Kim Hyon Chol, son of President Kim Young Sam, had been sentenced to three years in prison for bribery and tax evasion in the culmination of a massive corruption scandal.

The second son of South Korean President Kim Young Sam was sentenced by Seoul District Court today to three years in prison and fined 1.44 billion won ($1.57 million) for bribery and tax evasion. Prosecutors had requested a seven-year prison sentence and total penalties of 4.77 billion won ($5.22 million) for presidential son Kim Hyon Chol.